Star Trek BWTECS: Facets of the Jewel
by trekker26233
Summary: Kagome and the gang fing the COLUMBIA's wreck... and so does Naraku! Events in the Sengoku Jidai lead up to the confrontation on Hijiri Island, while events in the Modern World lead to war!
1. Default Chapter

INTRODUCTION

* * *

How quickly would I get reviews if upgraded the ratings to "R" ? (please answer) 

After my second book, I figure that I ought to start over with a new crew. Therefore, COLUMBIA's gotta go.

Naraku and the Klingons... hmm... how badly would they mix? (heh heh heh)  
For description of Klingons, watch SPIKE on Friday night 10:00PM & 11:00PM EST How can I put SnT (Shikon no Tama) into my fanfic? Here goes...

And now:a little conversation I had in my head one day

me: The mysterious Kikyo... what do we really know about her?  
little voice in my head: good question

1) Inuyasha's former girlfriend  
2) Onigumo's former girlfriend  
3) Naraku's ex-crush  
4) she's dead and rerevived  
5) she's dead again  
6) she hates Kagome  
7) she's a helluva player  
8) she likes to manipulate people  
9)she has aspergers (once she puts her mind to it, that's that.)

IN OTHER WORDS: who/what she likes/hates and who likes her.

me: IN OTHER WORDS: not much.

me:What do we WANT to know about her?  
little voice: EVRYTHING!  
me: No. Seriously.  
little voice: Her reasons for doin whateva she wants ta do.  
me: Exactly.  
little voice: how u gonna do dat?  
me: interview?  
little voice: who asks da Qs?  
me: pick a character  
little voice:. . .  
me: sigh  
little voice:. . .  
me: resorts to toe-tapping to alleviate boredom  
littlevoice: eureka!  
me: that's not a character  
little voice: Sango  
me: then Sango it shall be

And that's how it happened.

If no one figured this out yet, the shooting star Kagome sees in my first book is the COLUMBIA coming out of warp speed.

DISCLAIMER:  
I own neither Inuyasha, nor Star Trek. (Or do I have to disclaim this, too?)

DISCLAIMER OF THE DISCLAIMER:  
this disclaimer is based on the disclaimer in trekker26233 (aka: yours truly) 's first FanFic "Star Trek... pilot"

ANYWHO

When I get my disk back, I'll post the first fifteen chapters of FACETS.


	2. Chapter 1: Revelie or Taps?

Chapter 1 

Kagome was the first to wake up. The first thing she noticed (before she opened her eyes) was that there was something strange on her face. The next thing she noticed was that it was unusually difficult to move her arms forward. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that it was rather dark, which was strange because the last thing she remembered was the bright afternoon sky, on top of the mountain, and the flying-saucer thingy in the valley, below. It was then that she realized she was lying face-down on the ground. Something pushed against her side, and she reached blindly to find the thing that pushed against her. Instead, she overshot and found the ground. She braced her hand against it and rolled over--

--and over and over and over and over and over! Kagome's mind went berzerk as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her: first she saw the pretty evening sky through treetops, which was quickly replaced by complete darkness, then the trees reappeared, then they disappeared, and this cycle kept repeating itself over and over again! For a moment, Kagome felt something sharp dig into her side, momentarily disrupting the pattern of near-darkness and total-darkness. Suddenly, she was flung on her side, and for a fraction of a second, she saw that the ground was tilted in a strange direction, and then the ground gave out from below her feet, and gravity dragged her, feet first, over a short ledge! She wanted to scream, but she landed too quickly and too hard that she didn't have time to realize that she didn't know how far above the ground she was. She landed on her feet, but the landing was so hard that she twisted her ankle and landed on her back, followed by three and a half reverse-sommersaults down the hill-- BAM!!

Kagome had closed her eyes from the first moment she got dizzy, so when she opened them again, she had no idea where she was. This time, the ground was above her, and when she looked down, towards the place where her feet should have been, she saw her feet, all right-- she was standing on the treetops!

Wait a minute! That's not right! Why don't I feel anything under my feet? she thought. She was suddenly overcome by a wave of nausea, and she took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. A moment later Kagome reopened them ashe wriggled out of her upside-down position against the tree, and rolled over onto her stomach, while the fluids in her inner-ear finished sloshing around. She looked up the hill, and she saw a cloud of dust rushing downhill towards her!

The dust cloud came to halt right in front of her, and Shippo hugged Kagome, sobbing into her shoulder. "Oh, Kagome! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to push you down the hill! Are you okay? I'm so sorry, Kagome! I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean it! " Kagome was speechless, as she would never have expected Shippo to push her down a hill like that. Kagome returned Shippo's hug and gazed upward at the hill, but she couldn't see where she'd fallen from.

A crashing noise suddenly caught Kagome's attention. The surprise wore off quickly, however, when she heard Kouga and Inuyasha shouting at each other. Kagome looked for the source of the sound, and she saw a huge object rolling quickly down the hill.

AT THE SAME TIME INUYASHA...

It started when Kouga rolled over in his sleep. It ended with Inuyasha and Kouga snarling at each other, staring each other down. In between these moments in time, Inuyasha and Kouga were rolling down a slope, tussling the whole way down.

"You bastard! What the hell did you think you were doing!"

"I just rolled over in my sleep, but you just had to park your no-good stinkin' carcass right next to me, and LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

"What I did? You were the one that decided to roll over!"

"I can't help--!" BUMP! They hit a small tree, and changed direction. "--it if I roll around in my sleep!"

"You CAN help it if your going to roll OVER SOMEONE!"

"I would have rolled over you anyway, mutt-face!"

"Grrrrrr!" BUMP! "Stop calling me that, asshole!"

"Hell no!"

"And keep your paws the hell off Kagome!"

"And let her fall into your traps! What kind of idiot do you think I am!"

"The kind of idiot that uses his dumbass hitmen to shoot himself in the back!"

"Ginta and Hakkaku are out looking for food, dog-turd! They didn't hit us!"

"Then who the hell did?!"

"How the hell should I know?"

That question was never answered. It was at that moment that the tumbling pair dropped off a shallow ledge, into a mountain stream! SPLASH!

"Yikes! That was cold!" Inuyasha came up shivering.

Kouga resurfaced a few meters away, coughing up water. "You stupid-" cough, cough! "-imbecile! Look what you-" cough! "-did!" Inuyasha was too busy climbing up the riverbank to answer Kouga's insults, and that pissed Kouga off even more. "Hey, mutt-" cough! "mutt-face! Come back-" cough, cough! "Come back here!"

MEANWHILE...

Sango stood on cliff, over looking the village. Soldiers around her were expecting something to happen-- why else would they be so tense? Suddenly, there it was! The bird-of-paradise rose above the treetops, and opened its mouth, and a moment later, it released a ball of energy. The cliff in front of her exploded, and the blast knocked Sango off her feet. She landed on her back on the edge of the cliff. Suddenly she couldn't move! She wanted to get out of the way as the creature closed on her, but her body wouldn't respond! It was then she noticed that the cliff under her butt was shifting, sort of like... rubbing her butt!  
----------------------------------

Mirouku was satiating his perverted desires when the hand came out of nowhere and--

Well, in the end he had four large bumps on his head, the wind knocked out of him, and his ears were still ringing from the shouting-at that he had been on the receiving end of.

Sango hugged Kirara close, and finished Mirouku's punishment: "DON'T YOU DARE GROPE ME WHILE I'M SLEEPING EVER AGAIN!", while glaring at him in a way that would make even Naraku want to hide in a corner and disappear.

Kagome heard screaming, and when she looked uphill toward the source of the sound, there was Sango!

A LITTLE WHILE LATER...

"How did we get here?" Kagome, Sango, Shippo, Mirouku, Kirara, Inuyasha, and Kouga were all together now, sitting in a circle, but nobody had any idea how to answer the question. Nobody, that is, except for Inuyasha and Kouga!

Inuyasha opened his mouth to speak, but Kouga instantly cut him off with his own report: "The last thing I remembered was eating lunch with the people wearing the strange clothes. When we were about to go to the saucer, we were attacked. Everyone was knocked unconcious, and the next thing I knew, mutt-face here had pushed me down the mountainside." Kouga shot Inuyasha a look that basically meant "how dare you!"

Inuyasha blew a strawberry and then said "Feh! I remember eating a strange lunch that the strange people pulled out of a strange box. At least the lunch was good. Afterward we started going down the mountain, and that's when everything went black."

"Funny, Inuyasha. I don't remember anything like that," Mirouku declared.

"I only remember being hungry, and I was running toward something. Then my memory just... stops, I guess," Shippo said.

"You know, I remember the same thing." Apparently, Sango was also in agreement with Shippo.

Everyone was quiet for a moment until Mirouku realized that 22 did not equal 5. "How come Inuyasha-sama and Kouga-sama remember eating lunch, but the rest of us don't?"

"Inuyasha and Kouga always remember what they ate for lunch. Especially if it was tasty," Kagome replied, as though the answer should have been obvious. She knew very well that she had just stated the obvious.

"Wait! Kouga, what did you just say about a saucer?" Sango asked.

"I said we were going to check out the saucer--" Kouga began.

"What saucer?" Kagome looked confused.  
"You don't remember the saucer? Jeez, Kagome, can't you remember ANYTHING?" Inuyasha could not believe that they had come this far, and suddenly everyone forgot why they had even come in the first place!

"Sit boy!" WHOMP!

"Was that necessary?"

Shippo sighed. This was going to take a while.

"In your case, it's always necessary, mutt-face."

"Shut up, Kouga! You haven't been around long enough to say that!"

"The moment I saw you, I knew you needed the pain!"

"QQQQQUUUUUIIIIIIIEEEEETTTTTT!" Mirouku shouted. "Okay. Let's listen to Miss Kagome before we start jumping at each other's throats."

"Thank you, Mirouku. Okay, so... where were we?" said Kagome.

"You had just said that you didn't know what saucer Inuyasha was been talking about," replied Sango.

"Ah, yes. The saucer. Inuyasha, where did you say the saucer was?"

"It should be just on the other side of the hill, but where we are now, I haven't a clue."

"Why don't you climb a tree. Then you should be able to see where we are," suggested Mirouku.

"I'll do it!" Kouga was up the tree before anyone else could object.

Suddenly, Inuyasha smelled somehing. More accurately, he had been smelling something, but he hadn't realized that he had been smelling it. Whatever it was, it certainly smelled good! And the delicious aroma came from Kagome's backpack! "Kagome?"

"Yes?"

"What's in your pack?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because something smells good."

"Oh, no you don't! You already ate everything!"

"So did Kouga!"

"What did I do?" Kouga inquired from half-way up the tree.

"You and I raided Kagome's backpack, remember?"

"The hell I did!" Kouga started climbing again. "It was all you, dog-turd, and you know it!"

"Shut up, Kouga." Sango entered the conversation. Kirara sat up in Sango's lap, but even she went out of her way to give Kouga the "evil-kitty look-of-DOOM". And then she went back to her cat-nap again, with Sango's hand resting on her furry head.

Kouga glared from the treetop down at Inuyasha because he blamed Inuyasha for every little thing that went wrong in his life (except for his birth, for which he can only blame his mother. After all, he IS a sonofabitch). Inuyasha looked at Kagome, expecting her to say something soon. He wasn't disappointed.

"Inuyasha, what 'saucer' was Kouga talking about?"

"Kagome? Do you remember when we were hiking on the mountain? Do you remember WHY we were hiking out that far?"

"Of course: to collect jewel shards."

"Kagome?"

"Yes, Inuyasha?"

"Can you think of any other reason why we might be on this mountain?"

"Well, no. I mean, Naraku lives out there-" she pointed at a large manor house that was barely visible near the horizon, and very far away.

"Kagome? Do you remember anything strange happening recently?"

"Of course! We just woke up here."

"What was the last thing you remember happening, just before you got here?"

Kagome leaned back against her backpack and thought for a moment. "The last thing I remember, we were chasing Shippo."

"And then?"

"And that's it. And then suddenly we're all here." Kagome paused for a second before continuing. During that pause, she made a face and clicked her tongue. "I have a funny taste in my mouth." Kagome proceded to the stream to wash her mouth out.

"Kagome," Inuyasha prodded, "do you know what that funny taste in your mouth is? It's food! Don't you remember where Shippo was running to? He was chasing the smell of FOOD!"

"Did you KISS me?"

"Kagome-!"

"Sit, boy! How else could you know what that taste in my mouth was? How dare you!" Kagome rinsed one more time before she turned around. The fresh-water stream was refreshing, but it was freezing! "I thought it tasted familiar, though."

"The guys called it 'shikabob.' Or something like that." Inuyasha answered as best he could with his head in the ground.

"You mean 'shiSHkabob' mutt-face. Get it right," Kouga piped up, again.

"Whatever, Kouga!"

"Hey, Kouga?"Sango had a question.

"Yeah, Sango?"

"What did you see when you were in the tree?"

"The mountain top is about a hundred meters that way-" Kouga pointed uphill "-and from there, we should be able to see how far we are from the saucer."

"What saucer, Kouga?" Sango asked.

Kouga was shocked. Did no one else remember the saucer? How could this happen? "Remember the bright thing in the sky a couple weeks ago?"

"You mean the thing that Kaede said had plowed through three villages in the Valley, and flattened several others?"

"I guess. Was it round?" Kouga had not been there when Kaede broke the news to the gang.

"Yes."

"And it was really bright, and fast?"

"Yup. That's it. And you say it landed just over this mountain?"

"Yeah."

"Wow! Let's check it out!"

Kouga blinked his eyes for a few seconds. He couldn't believe that nobody remembered that they had been looking for the saucer.

"You all right, Kouga?" Sango asked, wondering why he blinked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm all right," Kouga replied. At first, Sango didn't look like she believed him, but before he could say more, she got up, and walked over to Kagome.

"Kagome, do you think we should keep looking for the 'saucer'?" Sango asked.

"Sure. And especially if it has jewel shards," Kagome replied.

"That thing probably had a lot of jewel shards. It could be dangerous," Inuyasha warned.

"And why do you think that, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.

"Have you ever seen anything that big, before?"

"How big was it?" Kagome, Shippo, Mirouku and Sango asked, almost in unison.

Jeez. "Nevermind. The thing was humongous, and it made a really loud thunder sound when it flew in the sky. It was round, and it lit up around its edges. It also leveled Kaede's village, and it THREW ME OFF MY TREE!" Everyone laughed when Inuyasha finished his complaints.

SEVERAL MINUTES LATER...

When everyone finally finished laughing, it was nearly dark. The first-quarter moon was visible overhead as the last rays of sunlight dipped below the horizon. As the gang had already set up camp, they had already begun to bed-down for the night. Everyone, that is, except for Shippo and Kirara. Sango had told Kirara to keep an eye on Mirouku, and make sure he didn't try anything (Sango does value her virginity, you know). Just as everyone was finally falling asleep, Kirara nestled against Mirouku, so if he moved, then she would be the first to know. Shippo, on the other hand, sat by the smoldering campfire a little longer before he wandered off into the woods, looking for berries.

He wouldn't be alone for long...

A/N:  
I bet Inuyasha would think that if he were ever to read my story.

Does anybody know the name of the valley that is closest to modern-Tokyo?

----

Whenever Inuyasha asks permission to talk here, he's not being polite; he's being cautious, lest he accidentally give Kagome ample reason to "Sit!" him. Notice he ONLY asks Kagome.


	3. Chapter 2: Decision of the Brass

CHAPTER 2

USS INCURSION

SOMEWHERE IN CARDASSIAN SPACE…

Captain's log, stardate 54851.1

Disguised as a Cardassian warship, the _USS Incursion_ entered Cardassian space over a month ago to determine the reason for the attack on the Starship _Columbia_.

We have recently discovered a wormhole deep in Cardassian space. We cannot enter it until another ship passes through, however, because we do not know what lies on the far side, and it is important that we remain undetected. We do not even know if the far side is located in the Milky Way galaxy, and I don't want to take the risk of becoming another _Voyager_, lost in space with no quick way home. If there is wormhole traffic, we may be able to find out where it comes from, and we could even slip into the wormhole undetected. For now, we are conducting scans, as we have been for the past few days, to determine the nature of this wormhole, and whether it is stable enough to pass through.

Captain Marcus Refelian stretched as he stood up from his swivel-chair in his ready-room. He would have called it a day and settled down for an 8-hour nap, but for some reason, he just couldn't sleep. His shift had been over for 2 hours now, and in one hour, it would be ship's night. At that time, all of the hallway lights on the small starship would dim to simulate the nighttime conditions on a planet.

STARFLEET COMMAND

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA EARTH

ADMIRAL NOLOTAI

The admiral re-read the latest intelligence report from the _Incursion_, as he contemplated his next order. This wormhole might be the route that Cardassian ships used to cross Federation space undetected. The admiral made up his mind: the _Incursion _would have to go through. In the meantime, however, he would also need to dispatch the necessary ship to rescue the _Columbia_'s hulk, lest the technology aboard fall into the wrong hands. His awareness of the recent Klingon/Cardassian conflict seemed to be a shortcoming at first… "ah, yes," the admiral muttered to himself. He first commanded his computer to run a search of every starship that was under his command, then he activated his communications console and opened a secure subspace communications channel to the Federation embassy on the Klingon homeworld Qo'nos. A Klingon's face appeared on the screen.

"_What do _you_ want, Starfleet?_" He gave the admiral a rude look to express his disappointment. The Klingon fleet had had to take over for the Federation when the Cardassian forces led by Gul Kentar had ambushed the Starfleet reserve fleet. Peacekeeping is not a popular role among Klingons, and it had become something of a joke in the Empire that the Federation couldn't watch its own back. The better-informed Klingons who knew how bad the Borg threat really was were less entertained by the joke, but nonetheless grinned at the thought here and there. With the Borg threat flaring up again, the warriors of the empire disapproved of the Federation's temporary non-aggression treaty with the Borg even as they rebuilt their forces behind the scenes.

The admiral chose to ignore the bait and cut straight to the point. "I must speak with Ambassador Worf."

"_Have the Borg done something to displease you, Starfleet? Maybe you should negotiate again and declare a peace settlement. Or have the Borg proven their disloyalty to anyone that gets in their way? The Empire will not support a _p'tak_ that cannot choose his battles properly!_" The Klingon laughed at his own joke, but Admiral Nolotai kept his cool, knowing that showing his emotions would only serve to delay his conversation.

"I have no time to fool around with a mere clerk. If the Empire wishes to take action, then it is for the Chancellor to decide, not his peasant-class undersecretaries. Now, get me the Federation's ambassador."

The insult worked. In seconds, Worf's face appeared on the screen. "_Greetings, admiral. How can I help you?_"

"Ambassador Worf, are you familiar with the _USS Columbia_?"

Worf pondered the question, but he came up blank. "_I am afraid not, admiral. Is she in trouble?"_

"Quite a bit of it, ambassador. She was attacked by Cardassian forces a few weeks ago in the Beta Quadrant, and we have only heard from her once since then."

"_I am sorry to hear about this, Admiral_, _but I assure you that the Cardassian threat is no longer. Is there a reason that you put off contacting me about this?"_

"No, there isn't, ambassador. I am simply curios about a Cardassian presence in the Beta Quadrant. Are you absolutely certain that this threat has been completely vanquished?"

"_I can ask Chancellor Martok if that would make you feel better, admiral."_

"Ambassador…" Nolotai hesitated, contemplating whether he would be allowed to tell Worf this. He decided he could. "… I work with Starfleet Intelligence, and I suspect that the Cardassians have a base out there, somewhere in the Beta Quadrant. Might it be possible for a squadron to be dispatched to assist the search for a possible Cardassian base.

"'_Assist?' Did I miss something, sir?"_

"The Federation will also be sending a small fleet to recover the wreckage of the _Columbia_."

"_Just where, exactly, is the wreckage of the starship?"_

"_Columbia _crashed on a class-M world located twelve light-years beyond the Federation's remote Beta Quadrant border."

"_I will discuss this issue with Chancellor Martok, admiral. Thank you for telling me. Qo'nos out."_

That done, Admiral Nolotai turned back to the search interface and accessed the results of his search, and he selectively narrowed the list down to this:

SHIP NAMEREGISTRYCLASSCURRENT LOCATION PRESENT STATUS

USS SAGITTARIUSNCC 51766 PROMETHEUSNEUTRAL ZONE – SECTOR 22(Omega) PATROLLING NEUTRAL ZONE

USS ROMANIANCC 63774 ISTANBULBETAZED ASSISTING RECONSTRUCTION

USS DOOLITTLENCC 22544 MIRANDASTARBASE 211 AWAITING ORDERS

USS ALEXANDRIANCC 74559SOVEREIGNRIGEL VII SHIPYARD UNDER REPAIR

USS LEAHYNCC 63448AEGIANSECTOR 001 – SOL SYSTEM STANDING BY

USS JOHN F. KENNEDYNCC 74876GALAXYSIRIUS SYSTEM CONDUCTING STELLAR SURVEY

USS INCURSIONNX 74808DEFIANT (variant)CARDASSIAN SPACE AWAITING ORDERS

USS URIAH P. LEVEYNCC 64927NEBULASIRIUS SYSTEM CONDUCTING PLANETARY SURVEY

USS SICILYNCC 54662ISTANBULBETAZED ASSISTING RECONSTRUCTION

USS PHILADELPHIANCC 65536EXCELSIORREGULUS I STANDING BY

USS AQUARIUSNCC 54467AMBASSADOREN ROUTE TO STARBASE 217 EN ROUTE TO RENDEZVOUS

USS GUNTHERNCC 65432AKIRASECTOR 001 – ALPHA CENTAURI SYSTEM STANDING BY

USS ENFORCERNCC 62219AKIRAEN ROUTE TO NEUTRAL ZONE EN ROUTE FOR PATROL DUTY

USS SKYLARKNCC 48522OBERTHM45 PLEIADES OPEN CLUSTER CONDUCTING PLANETARY SURVEY

USS ANNAPOLISNCC 68532NEBULASECTOR 001 – NEARBY BLACK HOLE CONDUCTING RESEARCH PROJECT

USS GARRISONNCC 65189INTREPIDSECTOR 001 – NEARBY BLACK HOLE CONDUCTING RESEARCH PROJECT

USS PHARRISNCC 44285EXCELSIOREUROPA NOVA COLONY ASSISTING RECONSTRUCTION

The admiral picked the ships that he thought were best suited for this mission. Before one hour was up, all of the appropriate captains had been notified and the ships were en route to the rally point at Starbase 1, in the Oort Cloud of the Sol System. Once that was done, the admiral then waited for Worf to contact him. This didn't happen until nearly one full day had passed. Worf said that the Chancellor would send five K'Vort class birds-of-prey, three Vor'cha –class attack cruisers, and two support ships. All these would be under the command of Captain K'thpak, who would bring his own Negh'Var battleship and honor guard in addition to the previously mentioned fleet.

It was time to rescue the _Starship Columbia._

A/N: DISCLAIMERS

The "USS Pharris" is a salute to my favorite author Tom Clancy, and his book Red Storm Rising. The _Pharris_' registry in my story is the license-plate # of the car whose driver likes to park in front of my house during the school year.

The "USS Leahy" is a reference to Leahy Hall, where the usual hero of Mr. Clancy's novels goes to work.

The "USS Uriah P. Levey" is a salute to the man who put an end to flogging in the US Navy. I hope I spelled his surname correctly.

The "USS Doolittle" is a salute to the commander of the famous "Doolittle Raid".

The "USS John F. Kennedy" is a salute to this former American president.

The "USS Annapolis" is named for the capital of the state of Maryland.

The "USS Gunther" is named such, because I picked a random word off the top of my head, and I thought "gunther" sounded cool.

The "USS Romania" is named for this small country in the Balkans region of Europe.

The "USS Sicily" is named for the island off the coast of Italy.

The "USS Sagittarius" is named for this summer constellation. The center of the Milky Way galaxy lies directly behind it.

The "USS Alexandria" is named for at least one of the many cities that have this name.

The "USS Enforcer" is another name that I thought sounded cool, and I thought it an appropriate name for a patrol cruiser.

The "USS Incursion" is the main starship in the PC game "Star Trek: Away Team" and it is a trademark of Activision.

The "USS Philadelphia" is named for this city in the state of Pennsylvania.

The "Akira" –class is named for the anime TV show, and was first seen in "Star Trek: First Contact."

Admiral Nolotai is a character in "Star Trek: Away Team" and is a trademark of Activision.

That said…

There is a black hole somewhere just beyond the outer edges of the Sol System. Astronomers detected its presence because of its affects on Pluto's orbit.


	4. Chapter 3: We Meet Again, Kagome

Chapter 3 -

8 WEEKS AGO.  
-

PLANET B1-M2 III (Kagome's home-world)  
YOKOHAMA HARBOR, JAPAN

The container ship was loaded up for the journey to San Francisco, USA. Some containers held grains, since Japanese food products were doing well on the international market. Some other containers held parts for the new car "Cresta C99". It was a Japanese car, but for some reason, the Americans insisted on being able to assemble the cars at their own factories. Because of this, several CEOs had gotten together in one big meeting, and decided that rather than let the Americans purchase the production rights for their new car, the Japanese would ship the parts to the American factories. Now, this ship was carrying one of many shipments of car parts to the United States for assembly.

The dock workers signalled to the crane operator, and another massive container, this one holding several hundred gas tanks, was pulled into the air, off of a flatbed traincar. The harbor crane carried the heavy container through the air, and brought it back down, to rest on top of another container that was already on the ship, one of many containers holding parts for the new automobile. But as this particular container was stacked on the ship, the rookie crane-operator brought it down just a bit too fast, and it "BANG!"ed loudly when it hit the container on the next stack over. This kind of incident happens on occasion at seaports, and though one of the dock-workers on the ship checked it, he didn't find any problems. That was because the doors on the container were between the container and its neighbor container. One of the locking mechanisms came loose, and the door to the container opened just a little bit.

The ship left Yokohama five hours later, beginning another routine journey across the vast Pacific Ocean. The weatherman had said that there would be a storm blowing off the ocean this evening, so the captain of the cargo ship wanted to leave the port in time to escape north. Two harbor tugs and a pilot boat escorted the large freighter out of the harbor, clearing the last buoy as the first dark clouds appeared in the horizon, like the silhouette of a massive warship rising out of the vast sea. The Pacific Ocean and her many islands had been the location of all of the battles against the American enemy during World War Two, and that warship-shaped storm cloud was the herald of a conflict that was soon to be renewed.

NOW (20 MINUTES AFTER THE END OF CHAPTER 1) ...

USS COLUMBIA NCC 26233 NEBULA -class BRIDGE...

"Captain, I'm still picking up K-band emissions bearing two-three-two mark four. It's now been sitting there for the past half hour, and it has only gotten weaker." Ensign Gregory Hall was working at the sensor console on the bridge of the crashed STARSHIP COLUMBIA. Sark had already taught him the controls, and Hall was a fast learner. Now, the captain decided to test his decision-making ability.

"How big?" Captain Ramon was on the bridge because he wanted to supervise Ensign Hall's lessons.

"Tiny, sir."

"A campfire, perhaps?"

"I would guess so, sir."

"What do you propose we should do about it, Ensign?" Captain Ramon caught the ensign off guard. He fully expected the ensign to grow out of it, but that would take time.

Ensign Hall turned around in his chair, the word "WHAT!" spelled out all over his face. If this had been my Spanish class, my teacher would have called it the "deer-in-headlights" look.

Captain Ramon cocked an eyebrow: "Well, ensign?"

Poor Gregory quickly composed himself and blurted out a hasty reply: "W-well, sir, I would um, I would send a security team to, uh, to investigate."

"Can you say that with a tad more confidence, ensign?"

"I would send a security team to investigate the anomaly, sir!" Captain Ramon had to admit that the ensign was certainly learning. But this lesson wasn't over yet.

"And why would you do that, ensign?"

Another "deer-in-headlights" look. This time, however, the ensign was better prepared. "So we could find out what's causing it."

"Very good, Ensign." The captain then addressed his second-in-command. "Mr. Boslin, do you agree with the ensign here?"

"I certainly do, Captain," Commander Boslin answered.

"Security to the transporter room," Sloane said as she tapped her combadge. "Captain, would you like me to go?"

"Fine, but take another person from the hydroponics lab with you. You can't have all the fun, you know."

"Aye, sir." Sloane turned to leave, but the captain had one last thing to say.

"Oh! And, uh, Ms. Sloane?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't hurt yourself. Starfleet says they're coming for us, and it would be good to stay well so we can pack up and skootch that much faster." Upon hearing this, Ensign Hall quickly typed what the captain had said, and he saved it for further reference on the isolinear chip that he carried around his neck on a keychain necklace. By the time he had finished, the security team was waiting in the transporter room. 32 seconds later, Sloane arrived and they beamed down to the surface, 20 meters away from the campfire. They were concealed by the darkness, so they did not fear detection.

But also hidden by the darkness of the night was Shippo, who happened to be collecting berries (and popping them into his mouth) when the five shimmering pillars of light appeared, and coalesced into people. Though Shippo could only see their outlines, he did see that one of them was holding something that looked like a weapon. The leading silhouette held something that had blinking yellow lights on one side. There was another light on it that reflected on the person's face, causing the face to appear garishly red. Another person held a similar device, but that other person was turned in a different direction, and Shippo didn't see his face. Shippo didn't even know he was a 'he', but he did try to guess. The leader of the 4 people pointed in the direction of the campfire, and they started walking. Shippo got scared, and he held his breath. He had seen their weapon, and he'd rather be damned than let those intruders even get within a meter of Kagome. Shippo counted to ten and dashed as fast as he could toward the dying campfire. But as he came out from under the berry bush, well... let's just say he was a bit loud.

"What's that!" Ensign Higgins hissed as he reacted immediately, pointing his phaser rifle at the bush, though he held his fire. He activated the red scope-light and pointed the rifle at the bush. Within a fraction of a second, all three security personnel were aiming in the same general direction. All they (referring to the whole away team) saw was the berry bush. Botany-specialist Elaine Heller picked a few berries and a leaf and scanned them with her tricorder.

Hmmm... "This is interesting," Heller whispered.

"Yes, lieutenant?" Sloane prompted.

"Commander, these berries are similar to a variety on Earth. May I take this sample back to the ship for further study?"

"Yes, you may," Sloane approved.

"Thank you, ma'am." Elaine promptly secured the leaf and the berries inside one container from her pack. Her pack wasn't that big; all it held right now was twenty small sample-containers, each about one inch deep and three wide by three long. It also contained some collapsible field-equipment and not much else. Then, everybody activated their flashlights (the heavy-duty kind with the huge, bright lightbulb. Again, these also emitted light through a red night-filter.

MEANWHILE.  
APPROXIMATELY 50 METERS AWAY

"Hey, guys! Guys! Wake up!" Shippo was trying to wake everyone up as quietly as possible. "Aww, come on, Inuyasha, Wake up! Ya gotta wake up! Someone's coming! Kagome! Kirara! Sango! Come on, guys! Wake up!" Kagome was the first to stir, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Yeah, Shippo?" she yawned.

"Someone's coming, Kagome! Someone's coming!"

That woke her up. "Put out the fire, Shippo. I'll wake everyone up." Shippo went to the bucket of water and tipped it over so it spilled all over the smoldering embers and extinguished it completely with a loud WOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Smoke went everywhere, and through that smoke, Shippo saw a wide, red beam of light! Yikes! The beam was joined by another one momentarily. Since Shippo was so short, he was easily concealed by the smokescreen, and he wasn't seen. Meanwhile, Kagome went to Kirara and picked her up from Mirouku's side. Holding Kirara, Kagome then whispered in his ear: "Wake up, you stupid monk!" she hissed. "Somebody's coming!"

"Ah, yes. Somebody's coming," Mirouku muttered blissfully in his euphoric sleep. His arm went up and down, and his hand waggled for a moment, and Kagome couldn't tell whether he was awake yet, or dreaming about something (or someONE, for that matter). Kagome stood up and kicked him in the side fiercely.

"Wake up, you stupid monk!" That got his attention immediately.

Mirouku came up to his knees and sat just like that with his arms outstretched as though he wanted to hug her. "I knew you'd come to me, Kagome!"

He was rewarded by the impact of Kagome's shoe in the pit of his stomach. "You stupid, perverted Monk! There's something out there, and its coming toward us!"

Apparently missing the second part of Kagome's message, Mirouku muttered between clenched teeth: "I'm not a perverted monk! I'm a VIRTUOUS monk!" But Kagome wasn't listening. She had already dealt Inuyasha his own kick-in-the-ribs via "SIT!" Moments later, Inuyasha manhandled Mirouku out of the area, again generating a noise as he stepped on dead leaves and shrubs when he made his exit. Sango was up, but with the intruders so close now, there was little point in trying to get Kouga awake. They escaped into the woods, where they found Inuyasha and Mirouku. It was also at that moment that the last of the intruders arrived at the campsite. Everyone was watching as the intruders walked over to where Kouga was sleeping, blissfully unaware that he had become the center of attention- the center of SOMEONE-OTHER-THAN-KAGOME's attention! As she watched, she suddenly felt something rubbing her butt, and she bit her lip as it was the only thing that kept her from screaming out of disgust. Kagome made a mental note to beat the crap out of Mirouku as soon as they got away. Kagome slipped her hand behind her to ward off Mirouku's wandering hands, when suddenly she realized that... drum roll ...SHE HAD LEFT HER BACKPACK AT THE CAMPSITE! OH NO! Suddenly tense, Kagome grabbed the closest thing she could grab, and she hung on tight. She was scared as hell.

Inuyasha felt something squeezing his arm, and he glanced in that direction for a second (long enough to find out what it was) and he was surprised to see Kagome there! He immediately considered making plans for telling her off later, but he shrugged that off and returned his attention to Kouga. He could have burst out laughing at any moment, but he was also nervous about what would happen if he did. He held his laughter for awhile, and when Kouga woke up, he swore he would laugh so hard that... well, you get the idea. Anyway, Kouga suddenly rolled over in his sleep, and everyone held their breath, not knowing what to expect. Kouga groaned in his sleep...

And then, it happened: Kouga rolled the other way and stopped moving. He was still fast asleep! Everyone giggled a little bit at that before they could regain control of that impulse. Luckily, at that moment, the wind picked up and their muffled laughter was never heard by anyone else. Their laughter immediately died when they saw the intruders going through Kagome's backpack. The intruders pulled out the foodstuffs that were at the top: leftover shishkabob material from lunch (with the other team of Starfleeters). Then they pulled out another bag, and then they put everything back in, and they started checking the side pockets.

Unnoticed, however, were the security trio. They had begun to spread out to keep watch, and one was headed on a roundabout path right towards them!

When the First-Aid kit was discovered, everyone blanched, because that Kit was the only thing they had to keep themselves uninfected. When the kit was searched, the gang's eyes widened from suspense. Their night-vision was much better than the intruders... as long as they didn't look at their lights too much.

"CAN I help you, people?" A harsh female voice asked from behind them.

The gang jumped and gasped collectively. Behind them stood 'someone'. And that 'someone' was pointing the business end of what could only be a weapon DIRECTLY AT THEM! They had gasped so loudly that they had been heard this time all the way back to the campsite! Something made a chirping noise, and the person with the rifle tapped something on her shirt and spoke: "Major Sira here."

And the chirping thing talked back: "Is everything all right, Major"  
"Yes, it is ma'am. I found our missing campers."

"Where were they? How far away are you?"

"Don't worry, LTC. I can see you from here. Shall I bring them back to camp?"

"How many are there?"

"I count four frightened campers and two cute pets."

"All right. Bring 'em back to camp, then, Major."

The Major turned to her captives (well, what else could she call them?) and said: "All right, people. Let's go back to the fire circle so we can all share stories." Then her shirt chirped again.

"Be nice, Major. They haven't hurt us yet."

Major Sira Tyres took a deep breath of the fresh air around her before she replied firmly: "Understood, ma'am." She lowered her rifle and addressed Mirouku: "What's your name, mister?"

"M-m-my name?" he stuttered, because he was still surprised; he could have cared less about the rifle simply because he didn't know what it was.

"You have a name, don't you?" Sira inquired innocently.

"W-why yes. I do have a name," replied Mirouku. He scared to hell, partly from surprise, but also because the newcomer looked somewhat intimidating with the way the light from the red flashlight shone on her face because it made her look like a demon. Mirouku didn't realize that he hadn't answered the question yet.

"What is your name, mister?" As far as the major was concerned, anybody that didn't have a name could be called "mister".

"My name is Mirouku." He finally collected himself.

"Well, Mirouku, take this." Sira tossed the heavy flashlight to him, and he barely caught it. "You're gonna need it to get back to camp." Mirouku accepted it without question, but he didn't know what to do with it. Inuyasha grabbed it from him when he saw that he didn't know how to use it. Then he pointed in the direction of the camp and they started walking back, Inuyasha in the lead, and Major Tyres picking up the rear. Half-way back to camp, Inuyasha tripped over a tree root that he didn't see, and the major laughed.

"Hey! What's the idea!" Inuyasha shouted.

"Nothing!" Sira replied between bouts of laughter. "Nothing!"

Sango didn't like this. She threw her Hiraikotsu at the major, but the major saw it coming and ducked. A crashing noise was heard over head, and Hiraikotsu returned, bringing several tree-limbs down with it, to Sango, who caught it nimbly. The major had stopped laughing when she stood up again. "All right, keep moving people. It might help if you pointed the light where you're walking." Sira was still smirking, though.

"NOW you tell me," Inuyasha groused. He clearly didn't think his brief trip was all that funny. He stood up, and then he realized he didn't have the flashlight anymore. He started looking for it, but Kagome had jumped ahead and picked it out of the bushes. It was still on.

When they finally reached the fire circle, there was a new blaze in the fire pit. In this new light, Kagome clearly saw her captors, who had apparently taken the time to bring more logs near the campfire for the pupose of sitting. One of the intruders stood up, and spoke: "You may stand down now, Major. Have you introduced yourself, yet?" Apparently she- She-was addressing the one who had surprised the one who surprised them back in the forest, because the one standing behind Mirouku immediately moved away. Kagome felt somewhat relaxed, but only a little.

Inuyasha, however, had something to say when he saw the intruders' uniforms: "Hey! You're the people from on the mountain!" But the newcomers just looked at each other: what was the guy with the crazy hair talking about?

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about," the one who was apparently in charge said. Kagome didn't recognize her right away, but the spots on her neck made her somewhat familiar. Kagome frantically searched her memory, but she came up blank. Then she the newcomer in charge spoke again. "I apologize for the Major's rough conduct. She's just been through a very rough time. Anyway, my name is Lura Sloane-" Where have I heard that name? thought Kagome. "-and you may call me 'Lieutenant Sloane', 'Lieutenant Commander', or just 'Lura'. Behind you is-" the woman named Sloane paused, and the first newcomer spoke again:

"Major Sira Tyres of the Bajoran Militia; security lieutenant in the service of the Federation's Starfleet," the major recited, as though from memory. Sloane then gestured toward one of the people who was seated on a log:

"My name is Elaine Heller and I you may call me 'Ms. Heller'."

The person to Heller's left stood up from his section-of-log and said, "I am Lieutenant Brandon O'Donald," and then he sat down again.

The next person said "I am Ensign Joey Higgins," he said.

The last person said, "You can just call me Daniels." So modest was he.

Suddenly Kagome remembered! She pointed at Sloane and said: "You're one of the people that rescued Inuyasha from Yura! You were in the airplane thingy that blasted the hair apart!"

"Very good!" Sloane was somewhat surprised that she remembered hanging around with Sark (quite literally) at the beginning of this whole thing on this planet. "What's your name?" Sloane asked.

"I'm Kagome," she replied. "This is Inuyasha; this is Mirouku; this is Sango; and this is Shippo. We're all camping out here." Kagome paused, thinking she was finished talking, but then Kouga rolled over, nearer to the flame. When his hand made contact with the coals, he instantly woke up screaming loudly. "YYYEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWW! OOOOOWWWWW! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT! OW! MY FUCKING HAND! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!" It was at that moment that Kouga saw Kagome sitting next to Inuyasha. She was LEANING AGAINST HIM! "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS DOG-SHIT! I'LL GET YOU FOR YOUR LITTLE PRANK!" Kouga was practically bouncing up and down with pain and anger. He didn't even notice the newcomers! Kagome yawned, partly from being tired, but also because Kouga had picked a bad time to burn himself. "Why did you have to wake up, Kouga?" Kagome muttered, not realizing or caring she had spoken. Fortunately, Shippo picked that moment to tell Kouga that "the stream is just down that hill, Kouga. Go cool your hands off." Upon hearing where the stream was, Kouga went. He was too far out of his sensibilities to realize that going to the stream would mean leaving Kagome with mutt-face for awhile. He ran, and nobody tried to stop him, though the major moved so she could track him with her eyes.

Once Kagome was seated again, Sloane sat down again. Now, the gang was on one side of the fire, and the Starfleet team was on the other side. At first, each group simply eyed each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Now, Sloane wanted to make conversation. "So, Kagome, how did you get out here?" Sloane prompted.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're school uniform isn't exactly of the times. Where are you from?"

Kagome talked about the centipede, and how she got dragged through the well, when she had only intended to take Buyo, her pet cat, out of the wellhouse. And she went on and on while the Starfleeters, as well as Kagome's friends, listened intently (give or take Inuyasha, who immediately stood up, and climbed up the nearest tree to snooze). Finally, Kagome finished talking. "Okay. Now it's your turn." Kagome pointed to Sloane.

"Very well. We-" Sloane gestured to her comrades-in-uniform "-came from a place way up north, aboard a ship named 'Columbia'. We were traveling to our farthest border to explore beyond our territory. We were attacked on the beach of this land, and our boat was torched by savages, and we lost most of our supplies (NOT rpt NOT referring to the Indians or natives; rather an imaginary race of cannibals that Sloane created off the top of her head, entirely because Starfleet regulations intend that personnel and technology are not to become subjects of worship if it is avoidable, hence the Prime Directive.)

Inuyasha picked this time to wake up and ask, "Your boat doesn't happen to be that metal circle thing in the valley, does it?"

"How did you guess?"

"You call that a boat?" Kagome protested.

"You guys only show up whenever your strange, flying things happen to be there," Inuyasha explained.

"If that's your 'boat', then where did you REALLY come from?" Kagome asked, determined to get the true answer. But Sloane's answer was surprising, both to Kagome and her comrades:

"Earth," Sloane said simply.

USS INCURSION, NX-74808

The order from Admiral Nolotai had arrived, and they were going into the wormhole. Marcus Refelian looked at the viewscreen, watching the pale-green/blue spiral-shaped phenomenon as it opened on the viewscreen, and gradually filled it as the INCURSION was pulled through. Commander T'Andoria and Chief Engineer Brexen Ijoula stood at the main Ops console directly behind the captain's chair, from which Captain Refelian rose to check on the holographic masking system at the rear of the bridge; it wouldn't be good if the Federation's latest top-secret starship was suddenly discovered behind enemy lines. All of the lights were green. Half an hour later, the INCURSION arrived at the other terminus of the wormhole.

Suddenly, the ship rocked violently! Sparks shot out from the helm-control interface, and the poor lieutenant who was sitting there a moment ago flew out of his chair, shrieking with pain, and barely missed landing on the captain, who moved out of the way just in time. That move saved the captain from some injury, as the dying helmsman would have landed on the captain's back. The lights on the bridge flickered and went out, to be replaced by the glow of the red emergency lights. Alarms screeched throughout the ship, and a computerized voice (normally played by Mrs. Majel Barret-Roddenbery) reported a possible hull breach in engineering. The ship lurched downward, as if yanked by a giant who were using the ship as a kite. The viewscreen flickered back to life, and no one on the bridge could believe their eyes, for they saw what could only be a large hill in the distance- they were flying over the surface of a planet! Captain Quint Freedman, the first officer, was back on his feet first. "Damage report!" he ordered. His response was the groans of pain coming from the rest of the bridge. He slapped his combadge, "Bridge to engineering! Damage report!" No response. After his second try, Slovaak answered the call: "The deflector is offline... the starboard engine took heavy damage... hull breach in engineering is sealed... warp-core micro-fracture is repaired... life-support is offline in the fore section of decks two and three, and those sections are evacuated... Many reports of overloaded power conduits are coming in now from throughout the ship... the Bussard-collectors are offline... sensors are coming back online now... Structural anomalies are reported near and around the Bussard-collectors... Warp-drive is offline... warp-engines have taken severe damage... hull integrity is compromised 44... that is all, captain. Slovaak out."

Captain Refelian tapped his combadge as soon as Slovaak finished his report. "Sickbay! Casualty report!"

"All biobeds are in use. Five deaths and lots of cuts, scrapes, ad bruises. People are still coming in, but all personnel are accounted for. Captain, what the hell did we hit?" That last question identified the person on the other end as Sirta d'Quo, the Andorian medical technician.

"I don't know, doctor, but I might be paying you a visit soon."

"Two technicians should be on the bridge by now. Aren't they there yet?"

"No, doctor, they are not."

Sirta d'Quo muttered something in her native language, and the captain had the wisdom not to ask what it meant.

"The turbolift must be broken," the captain replied. "I'll wait another minute, but I don't think the helmsman can." The former helmsman was lying on his back, sprawled in front of the captain's chair. His face was half charred by the exploding console. Poor guy. Aloram Vas had been working at one of the nearby science stations when the ship had reacted badly to its new planetary environment. Fortunately, her console did not explode, though she was still thrown toward the front of the bridge.

Ivan Verov, one of the specialists operating the masking technology suddenly shouted something. Captain Refelian looked at the viewscreen, and he saw that the ground was steadily filling the picture! They were going to crash! They were much closer to the plateau now, and the captain saw that it had a visible forcefield around it.

MEANWHILE.  
DECK 3

Yulana Oxila, the ship's Betazoid counselor, felt something knawing on her nerves. She knew that the ship had taken a lot of damage, else she wouldn't be carrying this poor crewman from engineering to the turblift to get to sickbay. But something didn't feel right. It felt... evil? But how could that be?

At that moment, the captain's voice came over the intercom: "All hands, brace for impact! All hands, brace for impact! We're about to crash on to a planet's surface! All hands, brace for impact!" Yulana found a turn in the corridor and lay the injured crewman on the carpeted floor, face down. Then she did the same. After a moment, nothing happened.

But after another moment, something did happen: the floor bumped violently, and Yulana and her injured charge were violently thrown forward several meters. Fortunately, the corridor was long enough that neither of them received anything worse than they already had.

HIJIRI ISLAND NARAKU...

At that moment, Naraku felt a disturbance in the barrier surrounding the island. He was already on his way to the peak to await the reports of his saimyoushous when he felt the disturbance. He immediately discarded the thought that Inuyasha might be stopping by because that idiot hanyou could not possibly be able to cover the distance to this place within 48 hours. So what could have hit my barrier? he thought. Once at the top of the hill, Naraku looked out toward the source of the disturbance, but there was no one down there. Hmm... Naraku looked across the moat that surrounded his island and there, lodged in the hillside on the farther shore of his moat, was a strange black object. Naraku could only see the top of the aft section of the ship because of the angle at which it had landed, but he had seen enough. In an instant, five saimyoushou buzzed around his head, awaiting their orders, and a moment later, they had them: investigate.

USS INCURSION ON THE BRIDGE...

A section of the floor near the captain's chair popped up, and Wes Pulaski pulled himself out of the Jefferies' Tube, followed by another medical technician. They immediately went to work on the helmsman, though they could do little more than put him in a stasis field until they could get him to sickbay.

"Captain, incoming Starfleet warp signatures on long range sensors," reported the ensign who had taken over working at ops.

"Where are we?" asked the captain.

"We are... ten thousand light-years from our last position, sir." The ensign looked up, "We're in the Beta Quadrant."

"How deep?"

"I don't know sir."

"Can you hail the nearest ship?"

"No sir, they are out of hailing range."

"How soon before we can hail them, ensign?"

"Two or three days, sir. The lead ship is definitely Federation, and the second ship might be Klingon."

The captain whorled around in his seat and looked intensely at the ops ensign "What's today's date?"

"Today is..." The ensign read off the date, "Stardate 54852.1." The technology that allows a starship to track its own passage through time, in the event of time-warp (accidental or otherwise), has existed since the 23rd century, as seen in multiple ST:TOS episodes.

"At least we haven't gone back in time," said Captain Refelian with visible relief. "But why would there be a fleet out here?"

"Beats the hell out of me, sir," the ensign replied.

"Do we know of any reports of hostile activity out here?"

"I don't-" the ensign started.

"Check the database, ensign."

"Aye, sir." After a few seconds the ensign spoke again. "Sir, the USS COLUMBIA was reported lost in the Beta Quadrant just prior to our mission. That might be the recovery fleet."

"Where was the COLUMBIA lost?"

"According to this report, Admiral Nolotai received a distress several days after contact with the COLUMBIA was initially lost. A later message said that a Cardassian battleship decloaked and attacked them."

The ensign kept talking, but the captain phased him out until he was able to put two and two together. Then, he interrupted with an outburst of enlightenment: "That's why Admiral Nolotai ordered us to go through the wormhole! That's why he sent us into Cardassian territory! Good work, ensign." The captain tapped his combadge. "Bridge to sickbay."

"Doctor Thatcher here, sir," the CMO replied.

"Is T'Andoria all right, doctor?"

"She'll live. A few burns, but nothing too serious. I wouldn't recommend putting her on an away team, though."

"Is she conscious?"

"That she is, sir."

"I want her in the Briefing Room at 1300." It was 1128 right now. The Briefing Room is the closest thing to an Observation Lounge on the USS INCURSION, and it is the rear-most room on Deck 1. While it is not actually seen in "Star Trek: Away Team", it is seen on the INCURSION in the intro-movie for "Star Trek: Armada II".

"Aye, sir."

"Bridge out." The captain turned back to the ensign and said: "Ensign, I want you to download everything you just told me, and everything you can get about the COLUMBIA's latest assignment. I want you to get the information to me at 1200 hours. At 1300 hours, I want you to report to the Briefing Room."

The ensign's face lit up with enthusiasm and excitement when he heard that he would be let in on the goings-on of an away mission! His entrance into Starfleet Intelligence was just beginning to pay off.

Wes then moved on to tend Vas' injuries, and the technician checked out the captain, who only had minor carpet burns on his palms.

DECK 2.  
ENGINEERING

The fog of the fire-retardent was still fading, but many personnel were back on their feet. The three medical technicians were finishing up. It was a remarkable situation, considering how few injuries there were in engineering, but it was also an unusual case, considering that the ship had crashed, rather than coming under attack. The warp-core was stable, which was good, but according to another readout, the engines were completely shot! The Bussard-collectors were broken (to say the least); the port warp-engine was breached, and that meant that the ground under that engine was vaporized by leaking plasma. Fortunately, the aft landing struts were activated, and that took care of that danger, as far as having the ground come out from under the ship went. The thrusters on the bow and on the port side of the ship were smashed, leaving the impulse drive as the only usable propulsion system. Fortunately, the safety valves on the thrusters had been activated since they had departed Deep Space Nine (see last book) and those valves could prevent any leakage, unless they were removed entirely from the ship. Someone called to Slovaak, reporting that the sensors were repaired.

DECK 3 TRANSPORTER ROOM 4

T'Andoria was badly injured, so Lieutenant Commander (and Demolitionist) Vin Asunder (what a name for a bomb-boy!) was next in line to lead the away team outside. Lieutenant Sinjin Kirk, (Captain Kirk's great-great-great-nephew, marksman, sniper, and spec-op enthusiast) was far too skinny to be the image of the ideal security-guard, but he knew his job, and he did it well. He had fought the Klingons and the Romulans on their own turf during the Warden Crisis (as Captain Refelian had dubbed it), and he had taken part in the final raid on the Warden base. Only seven people had taken part in that raid, and all of them had been awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor. The entire crew of the INCURSION had been awarded the Legion of Honor and promoted, except for Captain Refelian who refused to be promoted to "Rear Admiral" or even "Commodore" if it meant leaving the front line. Captain Quint Freedman was waiting for the completion of the USS NIGHTHAWK, which he would soon be reassigned to as commanding officer. For now, he had the rank of Captain, but he retained the position of First Officer as long as he remained aboard the INCURSION.

Anyway, now that our Bolian friend Ty can't remember his last name has finally arrived, let's go back to the story...

"Ty is here," Ty announced as he bounded onto the transporter pad. Matrina Sedik worked the transporter controls and the team vanished from the room...

...and reappeared outside of the ship, on a hillside. Sinjin Kirk dashed up to the high ground (the best place for a sniper to be, right?) at the top of the hill. A team of engineers was already dealing with the leak in the port engine, having already stopped the leak by shutting off a valve inside the ship. Ty and Vin took up positions on either side of the INCURSION, downhill from the wreck. From the top of the hill, Lieutenant Kirk reported: "Kirk to the captain, it looks like we picked a bad parking spot. That mountain on the other side of this ridge has a shield around it. I think somebody's home."

"Your comment is noted, lieutenant," the combadge replied with Captain Refelian's voice, "but I don't think we'll be leaving any time soon. Did you see the port engine."

"No, sir, captain, but I get the message. Sinjin out."

SICKBAY...

Yulana walked in with the wounded engineer in her arms. The instant Doctor Sheila Thatcher saw her, she took the injured crewman from the counselor and scolded, "I told you that the Saurian Brandy was not the drink for you, counselor." The doctor was referring the drink that the counselor had bought at the Promenade on Deep Space Nine. Counselor Oxila had bought it, claiming that it would help loosen some tongues when someone clammed up about something that needed to be let out, into the open. The doctor had said this because the counselor looked like she was high on caffeine or sugar or... something.

No, the doctor decided. It might not be the drink after all... The doctor was looking the counselor in the eye the way she always looked at someone who had done something against her professional recommendation, and she saw something in the counselor's eye that she had not seen since the Borg had destroyed the USS MONITOR less than four months ago: she saw the intense fear that only people who encountered the Borg displayed. But this fear was also somewhat different: it was worse. "You should lie down in your quarters, counselor. You don't look well at all."

Yulana nodded stiffly and walked out of sickbay. Doctor Thatcher was worried, so she called Captain Refelian, and warned him about the counselor's condition. Aloram Vas programmed a computer monitor on the counselor, so if she had been infected by the Warden contagion she could be isolated at a moment's notice. At that moment, his combadge chirped, so he answered "Marcus here."

"Captain, I think we're in enemy territory now." It was Yulana's voice, and she sounded tense.

"Explain, counselor." If she was hallucinating, it would be good to get it out right now.

"Something doesn't feel right. I feel as though something... something... I can't describe it, captain. I feel as though someone is stalking me. No, that's not it. I sense that someone is watching us. Someone... mean... cruel... something like that."

"Evil?"

"I suppose that works. I sense an strong aura, an energy, nearby. It's looking for something."

"You think it found us, counselor?"

"No. Not yet but something is coming to look around."

"Something like what?"

"I don't know, sir."

"All right. I'll warn the security patrols."

"Thank you, captain."

"Get some sleep, counselor. You sound fatigued."

"Aye aye, sir. Oxila out." The counselor seemed to relax as soon as she said that. Captain Refelian knew to trust his crew, even if they seemed out of it.

The captain walked to the nearest computer terminal and opened a communications channel to his guards. "Vin, get your boys on the alert. Yulana thinks somebody's watching us."

"Yeah, um, Kirk noticed that the hill on the far side of the moat has a forcefield around it."

"Upload his tricorder scans to the science station, pronto," Refelian ordered.

"Aye, sir." Inside his shirt, something wriggled. "Easy, Spike," Vin whispered as he patted the bulge. "It's all right, boy." Vin's pet tribble was getting nervous. Vin always carried Spike around with him as a good luck charm, and, as a result, Vin had not been killed yet on an away-mission, so his luck was evidently holding. But Spike refused to cease trilling.

"Maybe Spike not want to stop?" prompted Ty, with his deep, throaty voice. Ty almost always mixes up his pronouns and forgets his connecting-verbs, so please don't complain about it in your reviews, readers.

"I don't know, Ty." Vin tapped his combadge. "Kirk, upload your scans to the INCURSION's computer. The captain wants a heads-up."

At the top of the hill, Kirk adjusted his tricorder and he scanned the forcefield. Suddenly, five insects came out of the blue and began buzzing around his head. "Hey! Cut it out!" He waved and swatted at them, and took a step uphill, losing his balance momentarily, and he fell on his back, landing on his phaser-rifle that he wore across his back. As he swatted at the saimyoushou with his tricorder hand, he also scanned the bees. As it showed up on the tricorder and on the ship's computer, these were not just any ordinary bumble bees. When they finally left him alone, he had already fried one with his Type-II phaser.

Now, the bees were moving downhill, toward the ship, and the rest of the security team. Sinjin warned ahead, and the team prepared accordingly. But Spike went nuts when the saimyoushou began flying around Vin's head.

"Shoo! Shoo!" (I'm trying to keep the strong language to a minimum here.) Vin shouted as he swatted at the saimyoushou with the butt of his phaser rifle. He was allergic, though he was too proud to let the insects have their way with him, and he would rather be damned than let them bother Spike like this.

Suddenly, it happened: he was damned! One of the saiyoushimou stung the back of his hand! Vin jumped back, swearing fluently as he watched the swelling begin. He raised his other hand to his combadge, but he could only get out "Vin to sickbay! Help!" before he went into anaphylactic shock. His throat closed, and he couldn't breathe!

The transporter room received an order from sickbay, and Vin rematerialized on one of the biobeds. The rest of the injured people still waiting for treatment mostly had small things, as all of the worst injuries had been tended within minutes after the crash, thanks to the skill of the Starfleet medical staff.

"Take over for me." Another technician arrived to finish the cast being applied to a crewman's arm, and Doctor Thatcher immediately moved to Vin's biobed, and upon recognizing the symptoms of anaphylactic shock, she prepared a hypospray with an adrenaline shot. It worked within seconds, and the swelling went away, but Vin remained unconscious. That was unusual, considering that he only had a bee sting. The doctor quickly found the sting wound in his left hand, and the first thing she noticed was that his hand was badly discolored. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that his hand was colorful (disgusting, but colorful), nonetheless. This was definitely no ordinary bee sting. The doctor than cut off his shirt and sedated Spike, who (Spike) was handed off to yet another technician to be left in Vin's quarters. There was simply no place for a tribble in sickbay. In engineering, another crewman shut off the power to the food-replicator in Vin's quarters, lest Spike get hungry and eat to her little heart's content.

-

Author's Note:

All fires give off K-band emissions. This information was gleaned from "Popular Science" magazine.

An isolinear chip is pretty much the same as flash-drive, except that it is much flatter, it's partially see-through (all the way through), and it slides almost completely into the drive-interface.

Red light will not affect one's night vision. I think has something to do the fact red light has the lowest wavelength on the visible spectrum.

"Sir" is the usual suffix of any statement directed at a fellow officer, and especially a superior. In the process of re-developing Ms. Lura Sloane's personality, I decided to make her sensitive to this formality.

Don't you just hate those lucky coincidences? They take all the fun out of the story, don't they?

Nobody minds that I like to refer to Kagome & co. as "the gang", right?

The Major calls Lt. Cmdr. Sloane "LTC" because... well, just look at the official abbreviation: Lt. Cmdr. ... LT. Cmdr.

The INCURSION never actually hit the barrier; rather, the debris that flew off the hilltop hit the barrier, creating distrubances.

Thanks to "Son of Zhon", I have received my second constructive-criticism (a review that identifies a flaw in my writing)! I now intend to pay more attention to emphasizing the characters' emotions, and to address the language problems.

I am going to introduce a crossover between this fanfic and Tom Clancy's book "Debt of Honor" since part of the storyline happens in Japan. This does NOT mean, however, that I am going to copy straight out of the book; rather, I will match up events as I see fit, and it is up to you if you want to find out what happens in between. Some stuff may seem out of chronological order, but it's in here anyway because I think I found a way to make it fit. You shouldn't be able to realize that I did this, unless you read Mr. Clancy's book.

DISCLAIMER: the Japan conflict and its related plot is from Mr. Tom Clancy's book "DEBT OF HONOR". I own none of it, including the following characters:  
John Clark, Domingo "Ding" Chavez, Jack Ryan, Yamata, Chet Nomuri, Roger Durling, Arnold "Arnie" van Damm, Ed Kealty, Mary Patricia "MP" Foley, Ed Foley, any/all of the Russian characters, all of the other US government executives and agents, all of the business executives, and all of the Japanese people that have not been mentioned in the Inuyasha cartoon. 


	5. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 -

7 WEEKS AND 5 DAYs AGO.  
-

PLANET B1-M2 III (Kagome's home-world)  
SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN...

The container ship had evaded the storm for two days before it finally caught up, 230 nautical miles off the coast of the Kuril Islands. The storm ravaged the surface of the ocean. Mountainous waves rose up and occasionally washed across the deck of the container ship. Rain pelted containers, the "thump-thump" sound ringing across the towering columns of them. The open door on one of the containers, though only slightly ajar in the cramped space between containers, was open widely enough to let rain water drip inside. The container was low enough to the deck that the occasional wave of seawater would find a way to seep some of itself inside. The salt-water was damaging to the bare-metal gas tanks, causing corrosion as the salt reacted with the untreated metal. The ship's seasoned helmsman steered the colossal freighter through the waves, even as Nature herself fought back to inflict inconvenience on the crew. There were a few people among the crew who had eaten breakfast that morning, and now those few were sorry that hunger had ever crossed their seasick minds. The heads (bathrooms) were mostly occupied, and the people that didn't quite make it vomitted on the floor, creating the usual mess that would be cleaned up by the maintenance personnel when the storm passed, in preparation for the next storm, when they would have to clean up all over again.

The galley staff had gone off duty after they had secured all of the pots and pans to whatever shelf-space was still available, though they were not expecting to get any rest while the ship tossed and dipped and rolled with the stormy sea. The Japanese crew were very fortunate that they lived in the present, and not in the day when seawater leaked through the very walls of their home-away-from-home, contaminating the food, and causing the ship to ride lower on the ocean's surface. Visibility was reduced from miles to feet by the foggy mist that blew off the surface, though most crewmen tried to avoid looking out of the portholes (windows) because it would only intensify their nausea and seasickness.

Outside the metal hull, the wind and rain and waves battered the ship. From her bridge, the occasional lightning could be seen, striking the ocean's surface. It was incredible to watch, though the watch officer on duty silently wondered how the fish survived such punishment. Each bolt of lightning could individually deliver several hundred thousand watts of electricity from the sky to the water. Pure water does not actually conduct electricity; rather, it is the metals dissolved in that water that conduct, allowing the incredible voltage to travel until it found a place or object (usually an object) to ground itself The volume of water that would exlplode and vaporize around each strike was no less amazing. This was caused by the sudden expansion of boiling water forcing the water around it to make way as it explosively expanded outward like the shockwave it was.

Storms like this could last for several hours, or even days, and as dangerous as it was to travel through them, it was almost impossible to avoid them. Waterspouts were especially dangerous, capable of capsizing unwary ships, plunging them into the depths of their watery graves. This freighter, however, was destined to make it to San Francisco, where she would complete her ever-so-minor role in igniting the second massive conflict between Japan and the United States.

MEANWHILE.  
SOMEWHERE IN JAPAN YOSHINOBU SPACE-LAUNCH COMPLEX

"Hell of a package," the NASA engineer observed.

"We want to be certain that it can make it into orbit with a heavy payload," the missile engineer replied. The missile in question was an advanced version of an old Russian InterContinental Ballistic Missile. This new design would be made to carry a tactical nuclear payload far enough to be an effective weapon, but the Americans were not supposed to know that. The Japanese missile engineer thought it hilarious that they were testing such a powerful weapon right under the enemy's nose! And the American didn't even realize it!

The launch seemed to be a perfect success- until the third-stage liquid-fuel engine exploded, and the missile plunged into the Pacific Ocean. The engineer swore as the missile plummeted out of the sky. "Are you going to recover it?" the American asked.

"No." But that was a lie.

The American took another look around the factory, looking at fifteen other missiles, each in various stages of construction. "When's the next launch?" he asked.

"Next month," the Japanese engineer answered. "By then, we should have the first three payloads ready."

"You guys don't mess aroud, do you?"

"It's just more efficient," the host replied.

"So the rockets move out of here fully-assembled?"

"That's correct."

"Move 'em out by truck?"

"No. By train."

"What about your payloads?"

"Those are being made in another factory," the host said. "Propriety, I'm afraid."

NOW...

PLANET B1-M2 III TOKYO, JAPAN HOUJO...

History class was one of Houjo's preferred classes, as it tended to grab his interest, somehow.

"Having only one year's worth of crude oil remaining, Emperor Hirohito felt he had only two choices left," the teacher said to the class, as though they needed help reading their textbooks. "Ayumi, name one of the emperor's options."

"He could withdraw and submit to the US's terms," she answered.

"And the other reason?" the teacher asked. "Yes, Houjo?"

"He could go to war, which he did. First, the Japanese attacked the Philipines, and then-"

"You're jumping ahead, Houjo. How did the Japanese let their ambassador to the United States know that they were terminating their diplomatic ties?"

"Telegram!" someone called out.

"Arigatou, Tori, but please don't call out next time." Houjo made a mental note during the interruption to stop by Kagome's house to deliver a copy of his notes. "In that telegram," the teacher continued, "the emperor told his representative..."

MEANWHILE...

PLANET B1-M2 IV SOMEWHERE IN the other JAPAN

The gang was making good time, hiking parallel to the river to the river at the bottom of the gorge. That river had actually eroded the soil away over the centuries, creating this canyon. As the hillside became less steep, Kagome spotted a village... or what used to be a village. "Come on guys! Let's check that out!" And she started running towards it, while Kirara transformed into her larger form, and Sango offered the Starfleeters a ride, forcing Mirouku, Kouga, and everyone else to run in order to keep up.

When they finally arrived, Sango and the Starfleeters dismounted Kirara, who promptly reverted to her little-kitty form, and approached one of the mounds that used to be a hut. There were some people hiding behind it. "What happened here?" Higgins asked. Sango translated for him, if not intentionally, when she asked the same question in her own language.

One person came out, recognizing Sango as a youkai taijiya (demon exterminator) by her katana, and her hiraikotsu. "One month ago, a large, round thing flew from the sky. It made a loud noise as it passed, and it destroyed the village. No one was killed, but you can see what we lost." Indeed, looking around, everyone clearly saw the wreckage. One relatively larger mess nearby must have been some sort of shrine, Sloane observed. Judging by the length of the canyon, she was pretty convinced that this was where they had ditched COLUMBIA's saucer (not that the landing process had done that to the landscape, but they had picked a long, natural trench in which to park).

In her mind, Sloane started formulating a plan for rebuilding the village. When she finished, she walked over to Kagome, and explained her intentions, and Kagome translated for the villagers. Within a matter of hours, work-shifts were organized, and most of the gang, and the villagers had begun sorting through the wreckage to find any salvageable building materials, and then organizing them by length, width, and all the other details. Sango, Kagome, Sloane, and the village leader discussed plans for rebuilding the huts and the shrine. The village's elderly folk who were unable to help with the busy work prepared meals for the working mob.

The sorting part was finished within a matter of eight hours, after which the villagers began setting up the first huts, which were reinforced with lashings and pegs so they would be strong enough to withstand a strong wind, if not a sonic boom. Sloane expected this phase to take no more than thirty-some hours. Then, the real rebuilding would happen. 


	6. Chapter 5

I M P O R T A N T: UNTIL I HAVE RECEIVED AT LEAST TWO REVIEWS FOR EACH OF MY LATEST CHAPTERS, I WILL PUT OFF POSTING THE NEXT BATCH.  
NONE OF THE REVIEWS CAN BE IDENTICAL, AND DON'T BE A SMART-ALECK ABOUT THIS!

CHAPTER 5 -

O N E M O N T H A G O . . .  
-

PLANET B1-M2 III (Kagome's home-world)  
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, USA

San Francisco is a major port city on the West Coast of the United States. Ships arrive here from all over the eastern hemisphere to deliver everything from automobiles to industrial equipment. The cargo ship from Japan had arrived two hours late, but with the weather patterns on the Pacific as they are, two hours late is never a biggy. Two harbor tugs guided the container ship into the terminal, where a berth was waiting. The crane unloaded the containers, setting them down where another truck hauled the cargo to another place where it would be sorted, and then placed on a freight train or an 18-wheeler and hauled away to wherever it was supposed to go. Once the serial number on the container was checked, it was placed in a pile of similar containers. One of the inspectors on the dock noticed that the doors on this particular container didn't look right, and he radioed the truck driver to stop while the container was checked for defects. The inspector found the problem on the locking mechanism, and after someone else arrived, the lock was repaired. No one bothered to check on the cargo to determine whether its quality was affected, simply because it wasn't their job. If there was a problem with the product, then the quality-control person at the cargo's destination was supposed to send the damaged parts back to the factory for replacement.

As it was, this red container with the gas tanks would be loaded onto a Santa Fe freight train, and shipped out to some railroad yard elsewhere in the state. There, Western Pacific would hook up three engines to a train over half-a-mile long. This train would go all the way to Kansas, where the train would be put under Union Pacific's control. This freight train would go to St. Louis, where CSX would take over, and finish the journey, finally arriving at an automobile factory in Kentucky. There was a fairly large railroad yard at the factory, where traincars of all different sizes were arranged on sidings, until the factory got around to using the various cargoes. Sheets of glass would be cut and shaped to make windows. Various industrial-grade fluids would be used for binding parts together, or separating excess material from the product. Boxcars and "Piggy-Back" cars held smaller, pre-made components such as the car batteries, air-filters, and lights, not to mention all of the electronic gadgetry, most of which came from Japan or Silicon Valley.

The premier car on the US-Japanese markets was the Cresta C99. With a four-cylinder, sixteen-valve engine, front-wheel drive, and space for four passengers plus the driver, all shoved into a sporty frame, this car had already made MOTOR TREND's "Car of the Year," and it had saved a Japanese manufacturing company that had been declining for three straight years.

This factory near Lexington, Kentucky was a single building that covered 100-acres! The army of employees received decent wages, even without actually being members of the United Auto-Workers labor union. As with most other factories, raw-materials entered on one end, and finished products rolled out the other, where they would be loaded onto another freight train, or car-carrying 18-wheeler and shipped out to some dealership.

T W O W E E K S L A T E R . . .

-

PLANET B1-M2 III (Kagome's home-world)  
SOMEWHERE IN JAPAN...

"It has been a troublesome time, that is true," one of the guests conceded, "But not the worst we have experienced. And we are having our way again, aren't we?"

"We made them back-off on the computer chips," another guest pointed out.

They just didn't see, Raizo Yamata told himself. The needs of Japan coincided exactly with a new opportunity. There was a new world, and despite America's repeated pronouncements of a new order for that new world, only disorder had replaced three generations of- if not stability, then at least predictability. "These are small things, my friends," Yamata said as he refilled the cups.

"Please explain, Raizo-chan," said one of his more-friendlier peers.

"So long as we lack direct access to resources, so long as we cannot control that access, so long as we remain the shopkeeper for other nations, we remain vulnerable," Raizo Yamata explained.

"Ah!" said the man sitting across the table, "I disagree. We are strong in the things that matter."

"And what are those things?"

"First and foremost, our diligence, and the skills of our designers..." the man went on while everyone else politely listened.

"And how long will those things matter if we no longer have resources to use? No oil to burn?"

"1941 all over again?"

"No," Yamata replied. "Not exactly. Then, they could cut off our oil because most of our oil came from them. Today, it is more subtle. Back then, they froze our assets so we could not use them, yes? Today, they devalue the dollar against the yen, and our assets are trapped here, are they not?" he challenged. "Today, they trick us into investing our money over there, they complain when we don't, they cheat us at every turn, and they steal back from us what we bought!" That was a real head-turner. In that instant, Yamata knew he had everyone's attention. People nodded, remembering the experience. "They are trying to cripple us, and they are succeeding," Yamata said quietly.

He smiled as he observed the results of his words.

NOW (TWO DAYS AFTER THE END OF CHAPTER 4.  
-

PLANET B1-M2 III TOKYO, JAPAN

Chet Nomuri was riding the commuter train, as he so often did, at the end of the work day to return to his apartment in Tokyo. It made him uncomfortable to be regarded by the rest of the local population as a "gaijin" (outsider), despite the fact that his family's roots were purely Japanese; he had actually grown up in the United States. Now, he was in Japan operating for the CIA. The pay was acceptable, and he was learning new things every single day, and he especially liked traveling, though the United States was his preferred place to live, given the existance of fewer restrictions on the citizens. Another perk to living in the United States was that overcrowding was not so much of a problem there. The overcrowding problem in Tokyo was argueably worse than even New York City!

A businessman sitting near him was reading a manga. From where he was standing, Nomuri could see that this one was called "Rin-tin-tin", but there was a notable difference between the dog in the comic and the one in the similarly-named 1950s American TV show: the dog in the manga had a female mistress in whom to confide, and... eeeww! Nomuri decided that he SERIOUSLY disagreed with the sexual tastes of whoever decided to make this cartoon. There was a woman standing right next to the man, staring out of the window. If she had seen the man's reading material, she was very polite about it. The battle of the sexes was fought very differently in Japan.

Then the transfer was made, but Nomuri never saw it. All he knew was that his pocket suddenly felt a little bit heavier than it did a moment earlier. It was tempting to read the note, but he had long-since adapted to this temptation. He would find out his new instructions when he got home. Brush-passes were very easy to make in Tokyo, since it was impossible NOT to bump into somebody.

ELSEWHERE IN TOKYO...

School had just let out, and Ayumi and Houjo met in the hallway. "Aren't you going to visit Kagome after school, Houjo?"

"Nah. Too much homework. Here," he said, setting down his backpack to retrieve something. "Can you drop off this copy of my notes at her house? Arigatou, Ayumi."

"No problem, Houjo," she said with a twinkle in her eye that Houjo didn't catch. They walked out of the school, and went their separate ways.

PLANET B1-M2 IV SLOANE...

By now, they had helped finish rebuilding about one-fourth of the village. The temple had once been the most elaborate structure in the village, so its restoration took the longest. It still wasn't finished, but at least its frame was reset, and it more-closely resembled a shrine than it had during the past few weeks. The villagers' morale was terrific, and with the Starfleeter's expertise in architecture, the buildings went up that much more efficiently. Whether it was against the Prime Directive to provide help in this fashion to a less-advanced culture had never been clarified, and politicians did not need to know everything, anyway, so Sloane decided that it would be okay if she saved her conscious from some unnecessary questions. The Starfleeters worked tirelessly, helping raise wooden beams to support the structures, and making pegs to fit into holes in the columns so the structures would be more sturdy. The adults and adolescents were divided into four 6-hour shifts, and the kids (Shippo included) that were capable of participating in the reconstruction effort were divided into six 4-hour shifts and eight 3-hour shifts, depending on age, that were organized by Sloane. The villagers who were unable to work for one reason or another (disabilities, age, etc.) prepared snacks and meals for the workers. Now THIS was Marxism in action, because everyone was working for the common good. Unfortunately, the Chinese and Soviets never could get this to happen on the national scale since they all felt that someone had to be in charge, and therefore exempt from working. Well, too many cooks can screw the stew. In this case, however, Sloane and the rest of her crewmen were setting the example, rather than simply bossing everyone around. Since the Starfleet personnel had superior equipment and physical training, they had been mainly helping with organizing the building materials, gathering additional supplies, and replacing broken materials on the first day. Now, it was the third day, and all of the needed building materials had been organized, repaired, or replaced. There had already been the occasional splinter or beehive, but those were easily dealt with: fingernails for removing the splinter; a phaser blast for destroying the hive. There was still no cure for Hepatitis, so anyone handling a bloody injury still had to be careful.

In the meantime, Sloane had been keeping a progress log, recording what was completed each day. The good news was that everything was coming along smoothely, but the bad news was that quite a few structures would not be finished before the weekend. Oh well.

No one had noticed that Naraku had been tracking them this whole time! At the edge of the woods, a single saimyoushou (one of Naraku's Hell Bees) observed the reconstruction effort. As the third night fell, it flew away to return to Naraku on Mount Hakurei.

MEANWHILE, IN THE ALPHA QUADRANT STARBASE 325...

The last ships of the recovery fleet had finally arrived, and all would be ready to depart within the hour. Admiral Nolotai had just adjourned the debriefing with the ships' captains, and they were ready to depart. The Klingon captains were ordered to assist with the recovery operation, since their Birds-of-Prey were the closest thing to a vehicle that could fly in a planet's atmosphere, and then they could conduct their own Cardassian-hunting operation. The SAGITTARIUS would lead the Federation's hunt for stray Cardassians. The starships SUGIHARA and GEARY, dispatched by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, would construct an observation outpost inside the moon that orbits B1-M2 IV, and then build a subspace-communications relay platform just outside that solar system to speed up communications with Starfleet. Admiral Nolotai requested that the captain of the USS PHILADELPHIA remain behind after the meeting, however, because the admiral would have a special assignment for him.

When everyone else had gone, the admiral spoke again. "Captain, as we both know, your fine ship and crew played an important role in gathering intelligence behind enemy lines during the Dominion War. Now, I have another assignment that should be easier for you, but the consequences for letting your guard are not to be taken any less seriously."

The PHILI's captain received his ship's assignment: examine the function of the wormhole that COLUMBIA reported existed in that sector. Determine its purposes and establish a list of its users. Then compile descriptions of each user.

The USS PHILADELPHIA and her sister ship USS INTREPID (Excelsior-class) were both contracted to Starfleet Intelligence in the year 2352. Both ships were equipped with state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and both ships possessed spotless service records. The INTREPID had been decommissioned, replaced by the new prototype back in 2370, but USS PHILADELPHIA lived on to see action in the Dominion War. Now she had returned to her mission of exploration.

Five hours later, the last ship flashed into subspace as its warp-drive came online. Every ship in this fleet would be busy for the next year or so, and none would return to Earth before then, except for the SUGIHARA.

The USS SAGITTARIUS led the massive fleet across Federation space. They would arrive at the Federation border within nine days, and then one day later, they would arrive at the planet where COLUMBIA crashed.

Author's Note

DUE TO SOME... PARENTAL INTERFERENCE... SOME OF THE STUFF IN THIS "AUTHOR'S NOTE" MAY REFER TO MATERIAL IN OTHER CHAPTERS OF THIS FANFIC. PLEASE EXCUSE ANY CONFUSION THIS MAY CAUSE.

The information in the brief reference to the USS INTREPID is inferred based on its role in the Star Trek fan fiction "UNFORGIVEN", and the known existence of the prototype USS INTREPID that is seen (and/or referred to) in an episode Star Trek: Voyager. I have not actually seen that episode, but I have read about the prototype in its entry in the expanded edition of the STAR TREK: ENCYCLOPEDIA (written by Michael and Denise Okuda).

The USS SUGIHARA is a starship that is mentioned fairly often in the published book series "Starfleet Corps of Engineers". It is named for the Japanese ambassador to Lithuania who tirelessly signed countless visas to allow European Jews entry into the Soviet Union to escape Hitler's genocidal campaign during World War II.

The space in our solar system exists at around 4 degrees Kelvin, which is about -269.15 degrees Celsius. Because of this frigid coldness, the demons' bones were effectively freeze-dried when they were exposed to the dryness of the vacuum of outer space after falling through the well that the INCURSION approached.

The largest asteroids tend to be large enough to punch continent-sized craters in a planet's surfaces, even after burning off a layer or two of itself from atmospheric friction. Just visit Meteor Crater in Arizona, USA if you don't believe that asteroids can be big.

rpt "repeat", as in "the emphasis is especially on..." or "the keyword is..."

I don't think Aloram Vas needs to invoke "main characters' right to survival", if only because I cannot think of a reason for her computer interface to explode. Could the reader please, at the very least, comment on whether you can think of a reason for a SCIENCE computer to explode when the ship appears suddenly in the troposphere of a planet?

I will be posting a glossary on the USS COLUMBIA's homepage for the convenience of those of you who do not understand the Star Trek techno-babble that appears in every-other chapter of my Fanfics. The USS COLUMBIA's homepage will be: http: website will also include a roster of the COLUMBIA's crew members, brief descriptions of the various starships mentioned in my FanFics, and anything else I think is relevant.

Did you know that the fire-retardant effects seen in the Star Trek shows is actually liquid nitrogen? It's cost-effective, and it looks like whatever fire-retardant might look like in the future.

Since there are only 3 decks on the USS INCURSION, I have no idea why the game screen says "TRANSPORTER ROOM 4 STANDING BY" while I am choosing the people that I want in my away team. All I know is that's what it says, so I'll stick with it for now.

THE INFORMATION FOR THIS LAYOUT WAS GLEANED FROM THE 6TH MISSION OF "STAR TREK: AWAY TEAM" and the opening movie of "STAR TREK: ARMADA II"

Deck 1 is the bridge, and the captain's ready-room, plus the surprisingly roomy observation lounge.  
Deck 2 has the top of engineering, and lots of extra cargo space.  
Deck 3 has sickbay, the transporter room, the crew's quarters, and the bottom level of Engineering, not to mention the small shuttlebay.

I know there are only three decks because on "Away Team"'s Autoplay menu, it says that the USS INCURSION is a variant of the Defiant-class. I know that the DEFIANT has only 3 decks, because I looked it up in the Star Trek Encyclopedia (written by Michael and Denise Okuda).

The USS NIGHTHAWK is named for the United States Air Force's F-117A "Nighthawk" stealth-fighter aircraft.

Anaphylactic shock is what happens in a worst-case allergic reaction to someone who is allergic to bees, pollen, poison ivy, and (in the words of my world-history teacher) all that good stuff.

Vin calls Spike "boy" on occasion because 'Spike' would be a name for a male pet. However, as Doctor McCoy pointed out to Captain Kirk in "The Trouble With Tribbles": "they're born pregnant"! Apparently, tribbles are female.

Obviously, Spike is taking 'the pill' on a regular basis, but eating will speed up a tribble's metabolism, and you can't keep up with that, no matter how many pills you feed that poor tribble. The more it eats, the more little tribbles will running around the ship, which we cannot permit, lest another incident like that in which Deep Space Station K-7's grain supply for the Federation colony on Sherman's Planet was devoured by tribbles in 2268 CE. All of the tribbles died, however, because the grain had been poisoned by the Klingon infiltrator Arne Darvin, aka 'Barry Waddle'. The smuggler Cyrano Jones' pending 20-year imprisonment sentence for illegally selling the tribbles was lifted by Captain Kirk, under the condition that he take every last tribble off of the space station. Spock calculated that the task would take him 17.9 years. Wow, Mr. Jones! It looks like the good captain here decided to knock 2.1 years off of your jail time, as long as you're willing to do a little community service...

Tribbles are like the interstellar equivalent of a Terran guppy.

Raizo Yamata's conversation is copied almost directly out of Tom Clancy's "DEBT OF HONOR". If anybody feels like stealing my story, you'll have to answer to somebody who has a lawyer, since I'm not actually profiting off of this monetarily. I am deliberately editing my quotations so that the reader only has access to a "demo" of Mr. Clancy's story. 


	7. Chapter 6

I M P O R T A N T: UNTIL I HAVE RECEIVED AT LEAST TWO REVIEWS FOR EACH OF MY LATEST CHAPTERS, I WILL PUT OFF POSTING THE NEXT BATCH.  
NONE OF THE REVIEWS CAN BE IDENTICAL, AND DON'T BE A SMART-ALECK ABOUT THIS!

Chapter 6 -

PLANET B1-M2 III (Kagome's home-world)  
TOKYO, JAPAN

Chet Nomuri regularly visited one of the local bathhouses, where he talked about business with other businessmen. Or, rather, he listened to them talk about business, while he sat in his usual corner, making empty conversation, or commenting on the one that the other people were having. His assignment must have been the easiest that the Agency could have assigned him, made even easier by the fact the other people's tongues were loosened by the bottle of sake that was making its way around the tub. "Oriental Flush" is the Western term for the genetic condition that causes Japanese people to loosen up quickly with less alcohol. Fortunately, Chet did not have that condition.

"I wish you hadn't told me about that round-eye," Nomuri said, relaxing with his eyes closed, soaking in the heat of the bath.

"Why is that?" asked Kazuo Taoka from the far corner.

"Because now I cannot get that gaijin witch out of my mind!" Nomuri replied in good humor. "And now, you want to hear more, don't you?" Without looking Nomuri knew that the other men were leaning forward to listen better. "You were right, though. Her feet are too big, and her bosoms also, but her manners... well, that they can learn after a fashion."

"You make us wait?" asked another man in the group, feigning impatience.

"Do you not appreciate drama?" was the reply. The other men laughed.

Nomuri gradually described the girl whose photo he had received on the train. Why she was in Japan in the first place, who knew? Nomuri was not actually revealing classified information, since the details he gave could have described any number of Californian blondes. He actually intended to find out if anyone knew where she might be.

MEANWHILE, IN ANOTHER BATHHOUSE IN TOKYO...

"We have no choice," said the man. "We need your help." It was only a matter of time now. Fate had it in for this man and his company, and it was only a question of who would hit the wall first. The disgrace he faced was terrible, having to ask for help. The other men who listened shared the same emotion: fear. It had happened once, and now, it was that much easier for it to happen again. With the way the Japanese economy was teetering now, it was like a house of cards supported by a single card. With that single card moved away, all it would take was a small breeze to collapse the whole structure, though this fact was largely ignored by the business world. Until now.

All the men in this bath were friends, had been friends for years. But now that Kozo Matsuda had announced his compny's monetary complications, these men saw disaster on their collective horizon, which suddenly seemed to be much closer than they would have liked. If they gave their friend help, he would be disgraced, no longer able to be with them in their ring of friendship. If they did not help him, he would have to take his best shot by selling his offices on the market.

"Yamata-san was right," relented one of the other bankers.

The others agreed with his statement. "Hai," they said, as though in one voice.

Someone else spoke. "We need to seek his counsel on this matter."

PLANET B1-M2 III (Kagome's home-world)  
NEAR LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY

At one point on the assembly line, one worker did the job of removing the gas tank from the cardboard box, and attaching it to the automobile's frame. Before this part of the line, there was a worker in the storage area, where the gas tanks were kept. The worker in the storage room noted that some of the boxes were damp to her touch. On sniffing it, she noted the salty odor of seawater, and considered telling her supervisor. Being new to the job, she did not realize the significance of this situation. She could have stopped the line, but she felt selfconscious about doing that. An impatient whistle from the next station down told her to hurry-up, so she finally decided that it didn't matter.

Seven people would die as a direct result of her mistake. And that would just be the beginning...

MEANWHILE.  
PLANET B1-M2 IV, NEAR HIJIRI ISLAND

USS INCURSION NX 74808DEFIANT -class variant SICKBAY

Vin's conditioned had only worsened in the past 48 hours. His hand had swollen to the size of a full water-balloon, and though he had regained consciousness, he seemed like a different person. His eyes darted around the room, as though he had no idea where he was, and occasionally he muttered something that the universal translator translated to: "Must return... report... Hell awaits..."

The comm summoned, and Sheila Thatcher answered. "He's awake now, captain, but he randomly mutters about needing to report, and he seems convinced that he has a reservation in hell."

"That is out of the ordinary," the captain agreed. "What does he say he needs to report?"

"He won't say, captain. He keeps muttering about Hell."

"How did the blood sample turn out?"

"I ran it through the lab, but the results are... odd. I think you better come down here," the doctor replied. Ten minutes later, the captain understood. The blood sample was discolored, and there were substances that the computer had registered, but shouldn't have been there. They returned to sickbay, where Sirta d'Quo reported that Vin's vital signs were still raised. Handing the doctor her medical PADD, it was clear that Vin was losing this battle: the alien pathogen would kill him before the week was up.

SLOANE...

By now, they were rebuilding the last hut. But then Sloane's commbadge chirped. "Sloane here."

"This is your captain speaking. May I ask what you've found in the past four days?"

Sloane called Major Tyres and asked for her to take over holding up a wooden post. As soon as the Bajoran officer was ready to take over, Sloane stepped away from the consruction to make her report. "On the first night, we found that the infra-red beacon was a dying campfire. We found the campers and proceeded to make conversation. One of the campers is not of this planet; rather, it appears that she fell through an Iconian Doorway and wound up here. The campers had seen the saucer crash-land, and they were already on their way to investigate. Following them, we found a village that had been leveled, apparently by our landing. We helped the villagers rebuild, and the village is almost as good as new, now."

"How, exactly, did you help rebuild that village, lieutenant?" the captain asked. He sounded concerned. Sloane explained, and the captain did not like what he heard.

"Do you realize what you did, lieutenant? They think you guys are gods, now!"

"But sir-"

"BUT, lieutenant," he cut her off, "What do you think they thought when they saw you guys had a methodology that was better than what they already had! You even showed them that you can shoot light out of your hands to put holes in things! They've never even heard of aliens, and now you show them this! What were you thinking, lieutenant?"

"Sir?"

"Yes, lieutenant?"

"What would you have done? We had only knocked down every single house in that village. I figured that we ought to apologize, at least in some way." That gave the captain something to think about.

"I'll have to think about that, lieutenant, but for now I am banning you from leading away teams for the rest of our time on this planet."

That hurt. Sloane gasped when she heard that; she was shocked that she was losing one of her leadership priviledges, and one of the funner (or more fun? Somebody correct me) ones at that! To lessen the pain of the shock, the captain explained that the bureaucrats and politicians of the Federation Council would tear him a new asshole if they found out about what she had just done, and that he took responsibility for everything his crew did. That note did lighten the load, but it still hurt a lot. Sloane would have cried, had she not been immediately called back to work. "Sloane out." She practically ran back to the house that was just being finished, if only because it was something better to dwell on than being bumped down a notch in seniority.

The house was finished moments later, and everyone sat down to a scrumptious feast. The Starfleet personnel, who were completely unfamiliar with the menu, were more than delighted to join the festivities. Someone got an idea and started playing music. Then other people began dancing! Sake was passed around and the villagers encouraged everyone to join them, and soon the food was forgotten. It was almost nightfall by the time people started going back to their huts- to bring out more food! This was like nothing any of the Starfleet officers had ever previously experienced. As the sky became darker, people began collecting materials for a bonfire. The material was gathered from the pile of wreckage and useless building materials, and from the surrounding forest. When a huge heap was set up, and as the sun disappeared on the western horizon, the fire was ready. A few prayers were said by the village chieftain, and then someone came from behind and tapped Sloane on her left shoulder, offering her the honor of lighting the fire, which she vigorously declined as a result of her guilty feelings. Ultimately, Shippo did it with his kitsune bi (fox fire). The fire caught quickly, and then people began celebrating again. This was a very happy culture, indeed!

But the joy was not a lasting one. Sloane's commbadge chirped, and she had to explain to the captain how the bonfire had been ignited by the little fox-child person who had been walking around with the other campers. It was during her explanation that a roaring noise was heard from the woods. Not everyone heard it the first time, but as the noises of celebration died down, the roar became louder, and Kagome sensed shikon shards. The village's warriors immediately donned their armor, which had been recovered from the wreckage during the reconstruction; Kagome knocked a purity arrow in her bow and waited for a target to appear; Sira Tyres and the rest of the Starfleet security detail activated their phaser rifles and prepared to receive the enemy; Kirara transformed and Sango and Shippo mounted up, Sango's hiraikotsu at the ready. Mirouku prepared his kazaana, and Sloane charged her phaser, reluctantly but dutifully. They were ready to meet the enemy. Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga and prepared for battle. No one noticed that Kouga had disappeared!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
Thanks to a review by a certain Son of Zhon, I will take into account the language differences between Starfleet and Kagome & co., and I will remember the functionality of the Universal Translator that is implanted in each Starfleet officer's ears. Because of this, Vin seems to be rambling about 'hell' rather than 'Naraku' due to linguistic difficulties. We shall see how badly each person's name get messed up as time goes on...

Naraku Hell (translated)

Evl5011, I remember what you said about the Federation Congress disapproving of the actions taken by COLUMBIA's crew, and now even her captain has questions of his own. Is this satisfactory to you?

Tearing new assholes in people seems to be a common habit among the government officials who dislike their field officers in Tom Clancy's many terrific novels. My use of this expression is a salute to Mr. Clancy, and a fellow Marylander.

It should take a lot to make a Dominion War veteran like Sloane cry. Well, I think it hurts when someone you respect, and someone who respects you, decides to punish you by confiscating a priviledge, and I think it would hurt even more if that someone did it seemingly arbitrarily.

The bathhouse conversations are based on those on pages 132-136 of "DEBT OF HONOR"; they are not original.

NEW PAGE HERE 

UNUSED STARSHIP REGISTRY NUMBERS 13250 44209 23446 39422 32094 57822 53618 58104 40491 50111 61625

POSSIBLE JAPANESE CHARACTER NAMES Kotohda; Motouki; Sei; Ishiyami; Tai;  
Hayashi; Ikeno;

KAGOME'S FRIENDS AT SCHOOL Ayumi; Yuka; Eri Houjo

'Yob tvoyu mat!' 'fuck your mother'  
(Russian) "The Cardinal of the Kremlin"  
by Tom Clancy

'Domo arigato' 'thank you very much'  
(Japanese) "Executive Orders"  
by Tom Clancy

AlphaSmart 1-888-274-2720 website: 


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 -----------

The roaring reached its peak, and suddenly a large oni came crashing out of the woods. It shouldn't have had a chance:

"Iron-reaver soul stealer!" The Starfleet team did not have much opportunity to fire their own weapons, much to Sloane's relief. Unfortunately, Inuyasha's attack didn't quite do it's job: when the dust had settled, Kouga was there! He had been hit by the Inuyasha's attack, while conducting his own! Stupid show-off. The oni backhanded the now-limp Kouga to the side and charged straight at Inuyasha. Kagome released a purity arrow, but the oni dodged it!

Before Kagome could prepare a second arrow, the oni tackled Inuyasha, and she was knocked to the side by the sheer force of the impact! Sloane hadn't been near them, but she knew she had to act. She called to the rest of the away team with their new orders: "No phasers!"

"But lieutenant-!" Tyres started to protest.

"Captain's orders!" she called back. "Security detail! Protect the villagers, but do not use your phasers!" The she and the botany specialist and the village chieftain ran into the woods.

"What kinds of poisonous plants are native to this area?" she asked. Unfortunately, the tricorder did not translate that properly and the chieftain was unable to answer. The botanist, however had an answer ready and reported that some of the native vine-growths would be useful, and having a slightly better idea of the local language, she was able to translate the intended question appropriately. The chieftain was easily able to point out some dangerous plant-life, and the botanist collected several samples, while explaning to Sloane in English that the plant she had collected could blind or paralyze a target if dispensed properly.

"What did you say?" Sloane asked.

"I'll tell you when we get-" the specialist was about to answer. Sloane gestured to cut her off, fearing that the ensign might say something about the ship. But the crewman finished anyway: "-home."

"Let's hurry! We have to get back!" Sloane ordered. The botanist translated for the chieftain, and they hustled back to the village.

By the time they got back, the oni had destroyed three huts, one of which had Inuyasha lying on his back in the middle what had once been the roof. The oni was about to through him again when Sloane called to Tyres several meters away. The major pivoted in time to see the cylindrical shape of the hypospray tube flying toward her. She caught it and looked back to see that Sloane was gesturing toward the monster. An instant later, she understood and ran at it. The other two security guards were occupied, using their rifles as crowd-control batons to keep the villagers back.

Tyres was too late to keep Inuyasha from being tossed onto the roof of another hut, though this one retained its shape because of the angle that Inuyasha had hit it. The oni moved in for the kill when it felt something on its foot: the Bajoran security officer had just injected the whole 50mL of plant juice into his heel, and he immediately lost feeling in his foot. He reached down to grab the major, but she used the rest of the air in the discharge-capsule to release the remaining juice onto the oni's approaching claw. The mist began to irritate his skin with in seconds, as red blotches began appearing. Whatever this juice was, it had at least worked a little bit. The major retreated around the nearest hut, and the pissed-off oni tried to follow her, but it was barely able to stagger along, as the paralysis toxins spread throughout its legs and lower GI. Kagome released a purity arrow and-- What was that?

Something shiny glinted in the light of the bonfire. Kagome took a second to notice that the oni had a jewel shard in each of its legs, one near its collarbone, and one on its forehead. So that was how it had dodged her arrow! Kagome prepared to deliver a final headshot. A second later, she blasted the shikon shard from its place in the ogre's forehead, piercing the skin, but stopping inside the monster's thick skull, so basically the ogre has an arrow sticking out of its head, as it fell to the ground. Kagome retrieved the shards, and the monster turned to dust when the last one was retrieved. None of the away team members had anticipated that, and Sloane immediately took a sample of the dust to bring back to the ship.

Nearby, Kagura had observed this whole process, and she made her way back to Naraku to report on what she had seen.

USS SAGITTARIUS NCC 51766 PROMETHEUS-class

Captain Thorpe was normally on duty during Alpha shift, but since there would be nothing going on until next week, he was prowling the interior of his battleship, making conversation with whatever random crewmember happened to occupy the same stretch of visible hallway (not that there were INvisible sections of hallway, but, being human, the captain still lacks the ability to see around corners). Finally, he made his his way into main engineering, where he quickly found the Chief Engineer idly watching the dials and gauges that told him that the ship was working properly. "So, chief, why aren't we moving faster?" the captain asked idly, making conversation.

"Them Klingon bucket o' boltses (plural form of "bolts") flyin' with us are too damn slow, and if we speed up, we'll lose 'em all in our proverbial dust," the chief replied, the inescapable boredom saturating his voice. There were battles to be fought, but since nothing was happening now, the chief was less-than-thrilled with the Klingon escorts who were slowing them down somewhat.

After a moment, the captain got an idea. "What if we do a drill? How fast do you think your men'll be ready?"

"Thirty seconds, sir."

"I want'em ready in ten seconds, chief."

"Aye, sir."

With that said, the conversation ended, and the captain made his way to his quarters with less boredom than he had brought.

He walked into the room less than a minute later, since it was right next to the turbolift where he got off on deck 3. He sat down behind his desk and opened a private channel to the rest of the fleet. "Attention all ships, this is Captain Thorpe, commanding SAGITTARIUS. All captains standby for new orders at 1145 hours. SAGITTARIUS out."

USS JOHN F. KENNEDY GALAXY-class

"Captain, incoming transmission from the SAGITTARIUS," the ops ensign on duty reported as she turned in her chair to face her commander. "It's for your eyes only, sir."

"I'll take it in my ready room," said the captain as he stood up and hustled off the bridge.

Once settled in his ready room, he saw the Federation Seal on his communication interface with a caption saying that the message was for his eyes only. After reciting his personal access code, the message came through.

New orders? he thought. What could this mean? He saw that the present time was 1134. "Eleven minutes," he muttered. He hated cliffhangers, though he appreciated their literary purpose.

When he returned to the bridge, he told his first officer about the mysterious message from the flagship, and that earned him a raised eyebrow. "Whatever it means, we're about find out very soon."

"That, we are, commander," the captain said as he returned to his chair at the right-hand end of the row where the captain, first officer, and second officer (or counselor) were supposed to sit. "That, we are."

11 minutes later...

"Battle stations! Battle stations! All hands to battle stations!" These words and the red-alert klaxon sounded throughout the hulls of every ship in the fleet. Captain Thorpe had ordered a drill to see how ready each ship's crew was. Fifty seconds later, each ship reported battle-readiness, meaning that there was at least two security officers guarding each hallway junction, one engineer in each Jefferies tube junction, DC teams (Damage Control Teams) standing by at every turbolift, bulkhead, and corridor whose connecting rooms' farthest wall would be connected to the ship's outer skin. Overall, this was not too bad, but fifty seconds was way too slow by Captain Thorpe's standards.

"That was good, but not good enough," Captain Thorpe said from his seat on his bridge to every other captain in the fleet. "I want every ship to be ready within 15 seconds, got that, everybody? The Cardassians will probably know more about this region than we do, and they could attack us at any moment. We have to be on our toes, ready for an attack when it comes. We will rendezvous just outside the first solar system. I am taking the SAGITTARIUS ahead to scout the area. I am turning over command to Captain Hanson on the JOHN F. KENNEDY until SAGITTARIUS returns."

The Klingons started talking at once, also wanting to hunt Cardassians, not quite comprehending the meaning of 'scout'.

Captain Thorpe had expected this, and he had his own comeback ready. "If anyone expects me to lead this fleet, I will prove my ship's own worth. Even you Klingons understand that." And they did. The lieutenant at the communications closed the channel, and the captain returned to his command seat in the middle of the bridge. "Helm, set a course heading zero-four-zero mark three zero, maximum warp." The lead ship of the massive fleet gradually pulled ahead, picking up speed. Within seconds, the inverted-trough shaped starship was no longer visible, flying ahead at warp 9.988, faster than any other known starship could move. Her course would send her forty degrees to the right of the solar system, and thirty degrees above it. At this geometrically faster speed, the SAGITTARIUS would arrive one whole week before the rest of the fleet, which was traveling at warp six.

MEANWHILE.  
SOMEWHERE ELSE, IN THE BETA QUADRANT

The Dominion War had been over for more than a year now, but not all of the Dominion's ships had actually departed from the Alpha Quadrant when the war had ended. The wormhole had been discovered during the war by a Dominion scoutship, and they had quickly devised a design for a construction ship that would be capable of flying through a planet's atmosphere. That done, the ship was launched, and the Dominion had built a base in the Beta Quadrant, complete with a Jem'Hadar cloning facility, and under the command of Keevan's fifth clone, and one Founder.

"Keevan, don't you understand! We need more resources before we can move against the Federation and their allies!"

"We will have those resources very soon, I assure you," said Keevan. "But for now, I think we can successfully execute an attack on the wreck at the edge of our territory." It was not the smartest thing to get in an arguement with one's god, no matter how convinced you were of your own correctness.

"Contact our units in that sector, and see what they have to say," replied the Founder. "The Federation WILL send a taskforce to investigate, and they will find our base. It was foolish of Gul Kentar's Obsidian Order to approve the attack."

"We can move the base into a nebula. There are plenty of them around here, and our warships are strong enough to pull them."

"That may be so, but I wish we had more time to gather our assets."

"We never have time!" Keevan exploded.

"Watch yourself, Keevan. You have no say in the decisions of the Great Link."

"Don't be foolish! We are cut off from the Link and the rest of the Dominion! We must capture the Bajoran Wormhole, and hold it permanently!"

"We can do that as soon as our resources are put to good use. Our shipyards are still operating, and there is no local opposition." Keevan was scared, lest his object-of-worship kill him on the spot. To the Founders, nothing was so good as to be indestructible.

"See to it, Keevan. Are your soldiers as good as you say they are?"

"My Jem'Hadar First tells me they are, and they have demonstrated their battle-readiness."

"Call him in. I want to observe this for myself."

"As you wish," Keevan humbly responded. "Gutar'klan, report with your men to your warship. The Founder wishes to observe your combat-readiness."

"I will go," said Gutar'klan in his gravelly voice. "Victory is life."

"Also, Keevan," the Founder said as the Jem'Hadar soldier marched out of the room, "How are the Ketracel White factories operating?"

"They are producing the enzyme at peak efficiency," Keevan reported proudly. "We should have enough for three years of combat by next week."

"Then get more soldiers. We will be needing the White soon enough."

"As you wish."

"Lastly, I want to know about the shipyards."

"What about them?"

"Are they ready yet?"

"We have been building ships-" Keevan protested.

"No, no, no," the Founder said, cutting him off. "Let me be more specific: HOW MANY shipyards do we have?"

"Three."

"Only three?"

"Three of them are complete. There will be another one ready in the next two months, and another one six weeks after that."

"Not good enough," the Founder declared.

"We are working-" Keevan began to protest.

"TOO SLOWLY!" The Founder's voice boomed within the walls of the cubicle, emphasizing his opinion, and hurting Keevan's sensitive ears. "I want both of those shipyards operational in the next three months!"

"That's-" Keevan began to say, but stopped in midthought.

"'That's' what?" the Founder challenged his subordinate.

"That's acceptable," Keevan finally submitted. If the gods wanted it, it would have to be, wouldn't it?

"Good." That was the Founder's last word before he slipped through the door, and took his leave.

Keevan waited until the Founder was gone, before he moved again, walking to the communications interface in his quarters. "Kotan'adar?"

"Yes?" answered another gravelly voice. "The Founder wants the shipyards completed faster. Can that be arranged?"

"I will need more soldiers, but yes, it can be done."

"Excellent."

"Victory is life," the Jem'Hadar said, just before the channel shut off.

Keevan was stuck. How could he get more soldiers that quickly? Even more importantly, where would all that man-power come from? He would need a week before the next batch of Jem'Hadar would be ready, and... wait a minute! There was an inhabited solar system at the wormhole! Perhaps, he could round up some of the humans and use them to build the shipyards! Well, that might work, except that during the war, the humans that had been taken back to the Gamma Quadrant had tried to sabotage the construction, and that would not be acceptable. Well, that just meant more careful scutiny of the construction, and the people would have to be killed for every single mishap. Well, that could all be arranged, couldn't it? "Keevan to the Founder," Keevan said into the communications interface, "Might it be possible to draw some manpower from the inhabited solar system in the next sector?"

"It might be, but with the Federation sending a fleet of its own, I would think it's a bit risky."

"Perhaps, but we could borrow a cloaking device from our Cardassian allies-"

"Those traitors? You actually expect to continue talking to those traitorous bastards?"

"The ones under the command of Gul Kentar seem to be loyal enough to our cause," replied Keevan reasonably.

"After what we did to their homeworld!"

"Then we could steal the design from the Romulans."

"How?"

"You could sneak in and-"

"I am a Founder! I command this outpost!"

"I am a Vorta. I command the Jem'Hadar. You can change your shape, and you can sneak in and out of their shipyards unnoticed."

"Very well, then, Keevan. I will go acquire a cloaking device. In the meantime, you will be sure that the construction schedule for the shipyards is hastened. That will be all." As the Founder turned to leave, Keevan had one last thought, but he dismissed it. If they started drawing slave labor from the nearby star systems, wouldn't someone eventually notice? 


	9. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 ---------- 

THE NEXT DAY...

USS SAGITTARIUS NCC 51766  
PROMETHEUS -class

"Captain, we are receiving a distress signal operating on a Starfleet channel," the communications lieutenant announced. He looked up from his interface. "It's coming from the solar system, sir."

"Helmsman, set a new course for the system. All hands, yellow alert." The person manning the tactical station pressed the button and all of the lights on the ship turned amber. The lounge on deck ten emptied within three seconds, just a little bit longer than the shields needed to come online. Engineers scrambled to each of the three engine rooms on the PROMETHEUS-class starship, and all stations confirmed alert-status fifteen seconds later. Still not good enough, the captain thought. The ship dropped out of warp on the sunny side of the planet where COLUMBIA had crashed. The nacelle above the bridge automatically retracted, and the ship smoothly slipped into a high orbit directly above the source of the distress signal.

"Open a channel to the wreck, lieutenant," said the captain.

"Channel open, sir," the crewman reported. Audio only, for some reason, though."

"This is the USS SAGITTARIUS. How may we be of assistance?"

"This is Captain Levee aboard the shuttlecraft PRIMER. I would like to speak with you on a private channel if you don't mind, captain." That was an eyebrow-raiser.

"I will... talk to you in my ready-room, then, captain. See you there." Thorpe turned to the lieutenant. "Pipe it to my ready room, lieutenant," said Thorpe, rising from his chair, and he hustled off the bridge, the tension tickling every nerve-ending in his head.

He activated his console and the audio channel activated. "Thank you, captain. Which admiral sent you?"

Now THAT was an interesting way to start conversation. Might there be a conspiracy in the brass? Hopefully not. The Dominion War had seen far too many infiltrations for any Starfleet officer to feel comfortable. Because of this, Thorpe saw no purpose in denying the truth, lest this Captain not be able to tell him something important. "Admiral Nolotai sent me."

"Okay." The person on the other end of the connection was no doubt relieved, judging by his tone of voice. "I am really Captain Marcus Refelian, and my ship is really of a prototype design. We were scouting Cardassian space when we found an uncharted wormhole. That wormhole's terminus is a few kilometers away from my ship's crash site, and I request that a non-Klingon unit recover my ship, in order to maintain its cover. We're not supposed to be here, captain."

Captain Thorpe took a moment to consider this. His own ship could divide into three separate modules, any one of which would be able to tow a shuttlecraft if it were in space. But since this was a planet where it crashed, and since it wasn't even a shuttlecraft, it would take a lot more than one unit to tow it into orbit. Hmmm. "All right, captain, I will see what I can do, but sensors only detect a shuttlecraft where you parked."

"My ship has special technology that allows it to disguise itself. That is all I can say on that matter."

After a pause, Captain Thorpe continued talking. "What did you mean, exactly, when you said that the wormhole is only a few kilometers from your crash site?"

"The wormhole's terminus is just below the surface of the planet," Refelian replied.

"How does it open without ripping the planet apart?"

"I haven't the faintest idea, captain. I do spec-ops, not science."

"Well, captain, I'll see about getting you off the ground," said Thorpe.

"Preferably before the Klingons get here, captain. I understand you have three separate units under your command, and I was wondering if you would be willing to use them to get us back into space. And one last thing: could you beam down the spare parts we'll need down here for repairs? I'll send you the shopping list next time I call."

"Will do, captain. SAGITTARIUS out." The channel closed, displaying the symbol of the UFP. Captain Thorpe was left with something to think about, and not much time to do it, since the Klingons would arrive very soon. A minute later, he made his decision, and Captain Thorpe strode back onto the bridge. "Open a channel to the rest of the ship," he ordered the lieutenant at communications. "All hands, prepare for multi-vector assault mode."

"What's going on, captain?" the first-officer asked.

"Well, commander, we're about to rescue that shuttlecraft down there."

"Here we go, sir," the commander said as he ran off the bridge to Battle-Bridge One. The ops console lit up as each deck reported readiness. Within moments, all of the separation corridors were cleared, and the bulkheads were dropped to contain the atmosphere. "We're ready, captain," reported the ops ensign.

"Initiate separation."

The triangular-shaped saucer module moved forward and away from the rest of the PROMETHEUS-class ship, and its engineering section separated into two separate modules. "Open a channel to the rest of the ship, lieutenant," Captain Thorpe ordered. "All commanders, prepare for flight pattern Delta." The three sections of the starship formed a triangle. "Bring tractor beams online, and follow me. Helm, set a course for these coordinates on the surface..." The captain reached over the helmsman's shoulder to input the coordinates... "Engage, ensign."

The ship lurched as the artificial-gravity compensated for the steep dive and the planet's own gravitational influence. "Buckle up, everybody! We're going for a ride!" Someone was having fun...

The three ships dove toward the planet's surface, shields flaring against the atmospheric friction.

MEANWHILE, ON MOUNT HAKUREI...

"What is that?" Kagura asked Naraku, observing the trio of meteors falling overhead.

"I don't know," Naraku answered thoughtfully. "It seems to be a meteor shower, but it's the wrong time of year for that. Besides, there're only three of them." Naraku squinted at the falling fireballs, and nodded to Kagura. "Let's go find out." Within seconds, they were flying on Kagura's feather, and they flew towards the fireballs.

As they approached, the fireballs began to take shape! The lead flame gradually formed a triangle, while the other two formed non-descript shapes that vaguely seemed to resemble dragons, though the weird shapes at the ends of their wings identified them as something Naraku had never seen before. They seemed to be heading toward the mountainous island where one of the Shichintai would be waiting in ambush for Inuyasha, who would be heading in that direction in a few days, knowing that Kagome's knack for locating shards would inevitably cause her to come this way.

KAGOME...

She sat on the hillside above the village, over looking it and the valley below. Though Kagome did not realize it, on her own planet this very valley was even now being turned into a military railway line. Her beloved country, the Land of the Rising Sun, was preparing for war against the western capitalist democracy called the 'United States of America.' What she did know, however, was that the mysterious saucer that Inuyasha claimed to have seen was somewhere in this valley. And they were going to find it.

Inuyasha was sprawled on the grass next to her, his belly full after the banquet with the villagers. Kouga had wandered off for the moment, apparently to look for something. Kagome didn't particularly care about him, though. She was more worked up over not having brought her camera; this was quite possibly the best view she had ever seen of a vista so vast! The people in the strange uniforms were farther uphill from her, conversing some foreign language. Though Kagome had no idea what they were talking about, she nonetheless had the vague impression that they were talking about her, but she could do nothing about it because of the language difference.

Suddenly, Kagome heard a scream. The scream was followed by a shout, and the shout was followed by loud "SMACK!" sound. Kagome unnecessarily turned to see where the sounds had come from, only to see Sango standing over Mirouku, who had a not-so-mysterious red mark, about the size of Sango's hand, on his face that Kagome was sure hadn't been there more than a moment ago.

Kirara and Shippo looked up from where they were playing, unsurprised but slightly entertained by the new development.

One of the female uniformed people walked over to the fuss. "What's going on?" She demanded, more out of concern than anything else. She was holding her tricorder just below her chin, using it as a translator. It worked!

"Just watch out for his hands," Sango explained disgustedly, "They always manage to get where they don't belong." And just in time, for Mirouku was already reaching toward Sloane's butt!

Without even turning around, Sloane put her boot straight into Mirouku's thorax, and said to Sango, "I see. I'll keep that in mind." She smiled politely and took her leave, walking back up the hillside.

When she came back, the first thing anybody asked her was "Did it work?" The question referred to the universal translator in the tricorder, NOT Sloane's method of deflecting lechers.

"Yes, it did," Sloane answered. "Girls, I suggest you keep your guard up if you're anywhere near that monk."

"Why's that?" Actually, the question came from the male security officer.

"The kid's a lech," Sloane answered simply. No one contested that 'the kid' was also a member of the Buddhist clergy, as there had been a lot of strange things that happened on away missions, and lecherous monks ranked rather low on the 'strangeness scale' when compared to strafing runs by WWII-era Mitsubishi "Zero" fighters ("Shore Leave", ST:TOS), rogue Borg drones ("Descent", ST:TNG), silicon-based life-forms capable of killing creatures more than 30 times their own size and then taking over a starship ("Home Soil", ST:TNG). But that was just to name a few. Every planet possessed its own special breed of hypocrites, after all, and Mirouku was little different from that. Come to think of it, there was really no shortage of perverts in the portion of the Milky Way galaxy seen on the Silver Screen. In fact, there was (unfortunately) no shortage of perverted clergy on Earth in the 20th century, either.

Something suddenly appeared in the sky, seemingly out of nowhere! "Hey! What's that?" Kagome asked. Kagome was pointing at four objects soaring into the sky. The Starfleeters also saw the strange things, but unlike Kagome, they recognized the fourth object as a Type 8 shuttlecraft, being towed into orbit. But where had the other ships come from? Two of them definitely looked vaguely like Starfleet design, with the nacelles, but lacking the tell-tale saucer. But the third was triangular in shape. That was unusual in Starfleet.

"Lieutenant? What do you make of that?" Sloane asked specialist Heller. Though she specialized in botany, being in the science department, she still might know about recent developments in Starfleet.

"I don't know, commander. I've never seen those ships before."

Sloane tapped her combadge. "Sloane to Captain Ramon."

"Ramon here," the captain replied. He was aboard the COLUMBIA, and he was also watching the four ships.

"Sir, we just observed three strange ships towing a shuttlecraft into orbit. Can you see that?"

"Yes, we can, Lieutenant. The three ships are the USS SAGITTARIUS, of the new PROMETHEUS class. The shuttlecraft was not transmitting any ID signal, however. Do you remember if we launched any shuttles?"

"No, sir. I've done all of the flying since we got here. Did you hail the SAGITTARIUS?"

"Yes, we did. There's a fleet of ships en route to take us home."

"Hell yeah!" the Starfleet people shouted joyfully from their end of the connection. The COLUMBIA's crew would finally be going home!

NARAKU...

Naraku and Kagura watched the rescue operation with interest: the three strange things from the sky dove toward the black thing that had arrived only days previously-- except that now it was WHITE, and a lot SMALLER! Then, blue beams of light shot out from each unit, connecting with the white thing. Finally, all four things zoomed back into the sky, and it was as though nothing had ever happened! "Let's go see what the place looks like now," Naraku decided, and he and Kagura took off into the sky. They arrived at their destination two minutes later, but all they found was a large hole in the hillside! Otherwise, there was no trace that anything had ever been there! What had happened to the black thing that had fallen out of the sky?

"Have someone keep an eye on this place," Kagura suggested.

"I will..." Naraku's voice trailed off. He was thinking about something. "Let's pay another visit to the island. I think I remember something." There was a barrier around the island, but Naraku and Kagura passed through it easily. When they landed, Naraku thought he felt something. He looked at Kagura to see if she felt it.

She could feel it, too. There was something about that barrier...

"Kagura, destroy that rock," Naraku ordered off hand. Kagura tried, but her demonic powers failed her! "I thought so," Naraku muttered. A small grin slowly formed on his face. "This is a perfect trap for Inuyasha."

"But how will we be able to fight him without our own powers?" Kagura asked.

"The Shichinintai are human, or at least most of them are. They can use their weapons here, but Inuyasha, on the other hand, cannot.

"How will they get here?"

"I have a plan."

Hearing the shouts, Mirouku wandered over to find out what happened. Major Tyres saw him coming, and intercepted him. "What's going on?" he asked.

"You know we're from out-of-town, right?" she replied (NOTE: Tyres is using her UT Universal Translator. Mirouku nodded in response. "Well, our ride home is coming very soon."

"Where will you go?"

"Home."

"And where, exactly, is that?"

"Waaaaaay over there," replied Tyres, gesturing at the horizon, and being no help whatsoever.

"I see," said Mirouku, taking the hint after a moment. "You know," he said after a moment of thought, "Kirara could take you home."

"I doubt it," said Major Tyres.

"Why? You've seen her fly," Mirouku answered. How could there possibly be a place that Kirara couldn't reach?

"She couldn't make the distance." The major seemed slightly distracted. But by what?

"Yes, she could," Mirouku challenged. "She could there and back, and you'd barely notice the time passing!"

"No, she couldn't. We can't even see our home from here!" Major Tyres saw straight through Mirouku's ploy, and decided to play around with him.

PLANET B1-M2 III NEW YORK CITY, NY, USA

Whenever the software came out, the NYSE was usually one of the first to buy. The new software, called Clerk 2.4.0, was designed for trading stock in a more efficient manner than the old system. Not that it was all that different. A few lines of computer code taken out of here... another one there... and POOF: a more efficient system was designed! The trading program was designed recognize a trade in progress, facilitate it,


End file.
